


Project Eternity

by Tangerine_Catnip



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Resident Evil - All Media Types, The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, M/M, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-02 17:56:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 44,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2821115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine_Catnip/pseuds/Tangerine_Catnip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A biotechnology research and development firm, New Eden Eugenics, is about to unveil the newest breakthrough in medical technology. They claim to have created an ‘anti-zombie’. Or more properly, an artificially synthesized human who can use the rapid cell regeneration of Progenitor virus to heal fatal wounds and illnesses. However, Leon Kennedy and the DSO have a few concerns about the project, especially since it’s being developed on US soil.</p><p>But when the project is unveiled, no one is prepared for the ripple of consequences set in motion by an innocent looking albino experiment named Leslie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Worst Case Scenario

A blaring cell phone alarm roused Leon from his sleep. His dirty blond hair stuck out at odd angles after being twisted against the pillow for the last ten hours. He groped blindly for his phone before his fingers closed around it. In the dark hotel room the light from his phone made his eyes sting. After the blurry image focused, he found the touchscreen button that would silence the chorus of Livin' On A Prayer.

His hand fell to the side of the bed. His phone sliding from his fingers and dropping the final few inches to the carpet. Leon closed his eyes, the last images of a dream still occupying the bulk of his thoughts. He was tempted to chase the phantoms down but responsibility was calling. He pushed himself up and paused to stretch, lacing his fingers together and lifting his hands above his head.

Once on his feet, he parted the thick blackout curtains to reveal a view of downtown New York. From the 56th floor, Leon could see clear across central park and the skyscrapers that shrouded it in a perfect square.

Every time he looked at it Leon was reminded of how strange the swath of grass and plant life looked in the ocean of human construction and activity.

Even though he was far too high up for anyone to see him, Leon felt a little silly standing naked in front of the window. It was time to get dressed.

He snapped up his watch from the bedside table, fastening it around his right wrist. It was just past 800 hours. He had told Adam he would meet him in the hotel's private dining room at 10 sharp. So he had two hours to make himself presentable.

His suite at the Ritz-Carlton had two separate rooms, one for the king sized bed and another for a living space. It had a sofa covered in fancy throw pillows, a few comfortable chairs facing a flat screen TV, and a set of large picture windows.

A little spyglass was set up at one of the windows. It more ornamental than functional, but these were the little touches that wealthy guests played thousands of dollars a day for. Luckily for Leon, the US government was picking up the cost of this luxury work-vacation. Never let it be said that being the go-to zombie chew toy for the feds didn't have perks.

Leon passed the living room and stuck his head into the hall closet near the front door of the room. A hotel this fancy had to have a full ironing board. He found one nestled beside a safe that was currently holding his passport and the sensitive documentation he had been working on last night.

He took the ironing board with him back into his bedroom and set it up. Placing the iron carefully on the board and plugging it in. He left it to heat up as he stepped into the en-suite bathroom. The marble floor was cold on his bare feet and Leon hurried into the shower.

The shower head hung from the ceiling just above his head. He had seen ones like it before. Apparently it was supposed to invoke the feeling of standing in the rain. Leon sighed and turned the handle, letting a torrent of cold water flood down. It drenched him from head to toe and soaking through his hair in record time. Leon grit his teeth, waiting for the water temperature to shift into something less painful. He shook his head, sending ribbons of water flying. A long gasp filled the quiet bathroom, and then the water finally started to come out warmer.

The shock had done its job though. If he wasn't awake before, he sure was now. One of the skills he had picked up from his years at the academy was being able to stand cold showers. These days waiting for the water to get warm seemed like a wimpy thing to do.

With water raining down on him like he got caught outside in a tropical thunderstorm, wet hair was inevitable so he might as well wash it.

The shampoo the hotel had provided smelled vaguely like Jasmine, the amber liquid pooled in the center of Leon's palm before he smeared it though his loose-hanging locks. He closed his eyes against any stray soap as he worked backwards from the base of his skull. Massaging the soap into the roots of his hair.

The water soon washed away any trace of the shampoo from his hair and Leon found himself eyeing the bottle of conditioner. He would be on TV today. It couldn't hurt. He picked up the second small bottle and rubbed the white cream into his hair as well.

Ten minutes later, Leon had coaxed himself out of the shower and wrapped a pure white town around his hips. He also draped a second towel over his shoulders to catch any drips from his hair. He liked having it this length, but it took forever to dry when it was longer.

The iron was hot by now. So Leon pulled a light blue collared shirt from his suitcase and draped it over the ironing board. He paused to turn on the television that was sitting across from the bed, flipping to CNN and letting it rest there.

Unsurprisingly, the morning hosts were in the middle of opining over the highly controversial unavailing of New Eden Eugenics's 'Project Genesis'.

The opinions were ones Leon had heard before, particularly the question about 'Playing God' that hovered around any application of modern bio-science to human genetics.

Leon's concerns were a lot more basic. He simply wanted to be sure that this thing wasn't another viral outbreak in a jar. The line between a biological weapon and an 'Advanced Genetically Tailored Entity' seemed more than a little blurry to him.

Although no one besides New Eden Eugenics called it an 'Advanced Genetically Tailored Entity'. Somewhere a bright spark had come up with the term 'anti-zombie' and now even the major news networks were debating the implications of an anti-zombie.

Leon realized he hadn't moved the iron in a while and flinched as he pulled it back. Thankfully the fabric hadn't burnt in his moment of distraction. This whole Project Genesis thing was weighing on his mind more and more as the investor's conference drew closer.

New Eden was an offshoot of one of the pharmaceutical giants that funded the BSAA. But they had been working on this project before that organization was even founded. Up until now the secrecy surrounding the exact nature of the Project Genesis was second only to the Manhattan project.

In the intervening years, adhesion to international standards and ethics were monitored by the BSSA. Despite the conflict of interest. Commonly held rumor said that Project Genesis was almost scraped after the dissolution of umbrella. But the project was buried instead after various internal powers ruled the research taking place couldn't be used for bio-terrorism.

Not so much as a peep was heard from New Eden Eugenics for ten years. Then last month they suddenly started seeking public investment for a revolutionary new medical technology. The new discovery was being heralded as everything from a cure for cancer to fully organic limb replacement. The lead researcher had even called it 'a piece of utopia come early'

Of course the conversation about this revolutionary new technology changed dramatically when it leaked that this discovery was less of an 'it' and more of a 'who'. Project Genesis took the form of a human. A male human to be precise.

The idea of a human-like entity created in a test tube brought with it a whole host of unfortunate implications. Not the least of which were comparisons to biological weapons that were created with or without a human host as the base.

But that was all speculation. There was no proof to back any legal action that would shut New Eden down. Not to mention the specimen had the BSAA stamp of approval. So the conference was given the green light and set to take place in New York as soon as possible.

President Adam Benford responded to the concerns of his people and decided to personally attend the investors showing. This had the added benefit of allowing the DSO to personally arrange all the safety measures for the event. Leon was personally overseeing part the operation. Given his years of experience with different strains of viral outbreaks Adam was depending on his instincts to help ferret out the truth behind Project Genesis.

Leon put the iron down. He was going to make a hole in his shirt if he kept running the iron over it again and again. He tugged the warm shirt on over his shoulders and buttoned it up the front. He fixed his collar in the mirror, unplugged the iron, and went to go find his pants.

Sadly, his usual Combat pants weren't a possibility for this afternoon. The rest of his task force would be sporting bulletproof vests. But as a spokesperson for the DSO, Leon would have to settle for a tailored suit jacket. He could tuck a sidearm in a shoulder pouch under his jacket, but that would be the limit of what he could take.

He threaded a leather belt into his jeans and tucked in his shirt, giving his hair a final brush with the towels before throwing them into the bathtub. He paused by the bathroom mirror and ran a small plastic comb through his locks, making sure none of the cow licks from last night were sticking around.

Satisfied, Leon grabbed his blazer from the dry-cleaning bag hanging in the closet and put it on over his freshly pressed shirt. One last stop to grab his wallet and room key and he was ready to go.

He passed the kitchenette on his way out the door. It had a coffee maker as well as a bar area. Leon decided against it though. Today he needed something with at least three shots of espresso. That and a long walk on the busy streets of the world's fanatical capital.

* * *

 

Two hours, one cappuccino, and two plates of bacon and pancakes later, Leon was sitting in the back of the presidential state car. It was only sixteen blocks from the doorstep of the hotel to Weill Cornell Medical College. But the president never traveled anywhere casually.

The NYPD had barricaded off the route with chest-high portable fencing. More to minimize the possibility of civilian foot traffic interaction than as one of the many defense methods. The motorcade itself was made up of the three limos with tinted windows and flanked by police cars and bikes. If you were standing and watching the procession, the first of the police mounted motorbikes would pass you a full five minutes before the bulk of the motorcade even came into view. Another cluster of twenty motorbikes preceded the first police cars, then on its heels came one of the armored secret service cars.

The state car, or as the boy's called it 'Cadillac One' was third in the procession, bearing the presidential seal on its door and hood mounted flags. Given his off-and-on again relationship with personal protection, Leon was well aware of all the safety features hidden under the leather seats he was sitting on. From the five inch think armor plating, to the independent oxygen supply in case of biological contamination, there was probably no safer place in the country than inside this car.

The rest of the cars in the motorcade ranged from a personal ambulance to the transport vehicles for the small army of secret service and DSO personnel that had been assigned to this operation. Holding up the rear was the WHCA Roadrunner, providing the communications relay and data services to Cadillac One.

Leon had been offered the seat next to President Benford in the back of Cadillac One. The presidential seal was embossed on the armrest between them, reminding the once rookie police officer that he was sitting in the spot usually reserved for the vice president.

Ingrid Hunnigan was sitting on one of the benches to Adam's right, a laptop resting over her knees. The images on her device were duplicated on the LCD screen just under the glass divider separating the driver's compartment from the passengers.

They were going over the floor plans of the laboratory/class room that the investors demonstration was taking place in. A glass partition had been erected to separate the viewing room from the operations room. Both areas were on separate ventilation systems to minimize cross condemnation, and all high priority staff would have anti-infection masks.

On paper the plan was flawless. But then, Leon wasn't one of the best agents the DSO had because he was good at following plans. He needed to be ready to act quickly when things went to shit.

They were nearing the Medical College when the sounds of distant screaming made Leon sit bolt upright in his seat. He glanced out the window, trying to get a view of the road ahead of them. Hunnigan paused mid briefing as the occupants of the car tried to place the sound.

Leon slumped back into his seat. "Protesters" he explained flatly. "It's almost like naming your genetic experimentation laboratory with biblical themes was a bad idea."

Hunnigan nodded. "We've been keeping an eye on the rallies since this morning. Most of the demonstrations are taking place near the campus lawns."

The car passed quickly around the crowds. The protesters pushed against the portable fencing, reacting to the presence of the state car. The tinted windows kept the occupants hidden, but everyone inside the car stiffened regardless. The driver took the long way back around the medical facility and a few moments later Cadillac One was pulling into the campus loading bay.

Adam gave the signal and the large metal doors of the state car unsealed, beyond them the loading dock was already buzzing with activity. DSO and secret service members milled about, trying not to get in each other's way.

"I better go with the boys then" Adam smiled, slowly rising from his seat with a little help from a secret service member. "Leon, Hunnigan, I'm counting on you two. I can smile and nod to keep them distracted, but the rest is up to you."

'Yes of course, sir" Hunnigan replied. Leon nodded, doing his best impression of a reassuring grin. He wanted to actually be reassuring, but a niggle of doubt had found its way into his chest and the bad feeling only grew as the demonstration drew closer.

Adman left with the bulk of the secret service, leaving a crowd of rowdy DSO waiting for Leon.

He and Hunnigan stepped out of the car, the female technology specialist folded her laptop up and started towards the mobile commutations vehicle. Leon caught her by the arm. "By the way Hunnigan, It's nice to see you in person for once. I was beginning to wonder if you were just a voice in my head."

She raised both eyebrows and smirked at him. "Well, I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. If you need me, I'll be on the corms." She waved to him as she left, climbing into the back of a large black van that would serve as the operations center for this afternoon.

Captain Callaway sauntered up to him, grinning as he gave Leon the once over. "Nice suit Leon, I see you're going to be observing on this assignment."

Leon snorted, "Well Callaway, Some of us have to be presentable for the cameras. We can't let the American public think every member of the DSO is as ugly as you"

Callaway let out a raucous laugh and clapped the special agent on the shoulder. Leon flinched and took a small step back.

"Um, so… Did the new Eden staff finally agree to let us into the demonstration room?" Leon asked, resisting the urge to rub his sore shoulder. Callaway nodded "yeah, the lab tecs took a lot of convincing though. They were worried I had an 'itchy trigger finger'. Callaway made a rude noise to indicate just what he thought of that assumption. "The DSO is the best and we know a BOW when we see one. If this gen-a-thingy even starts to mutate, we'll have sixteen rounds into it before it can even think of slobbering." He jabbed at the air with the barrel of his weapon, mimicking gunshots.

"Best not mention that in front of the researchers." Leon warned. "Officially the DSO is only here to insure the safety of the president. Shooting the specimen is only authorized as a last resort."

Callaway sighed dramatically slinging his holstered assault rifle back over his shoulder. "Yes, I know momma Kennedy. But do you really think it isn't going to come to that? You and I have been in this game for a long time. People keep saying this technology can do good things. But who's going to cure the common cold when terrorists and PMC's will pay out the ass for shoddily made killer bullfrogs.

Leon nodded, his gut feeling was with Callaway, but someone needed to play the voice of reason. "If it was a bio-weapon they would sell it on the black market. Public Investors usually don't fund obviously illegal activity."

Callaway chewed on his bottom lip, thinking. "Then it's a trap. Get us in the same room with a monster."

Leon shook his head, "Traps usually work better if you don't let the victim bring half an army, choose the location, and fortify it against every eventuality. Even then, Adam asked to attend. They had no way of knowing he would be present."

Leon fixed the captain with a look. "Face it Callaway, smarter men that you have turned this mess up and down. If there was any evidence of foul play we wouldn't be here right now."

Callaway grunted, intellectual debates weren't his strong suit, but even he realized he could only say 'I have a bad feeling about this' so many times.

A crackle of static from the headset in Leon's ear, as well as the communicator on Callaway's belt. Hunnigan was about to broadcast on all channels.

"The president is secure in the observation chamber. New Eden has been given permission to unload the prototype. All personnel, please assume positions for stage one."

Callaway smiled, straitening as his soldier instincts perked up. "Showtime." He hustled over to his team tossing one last jibe in Leon's direction. "Break a leg Miss. Kennedy"

Two heavily armed teams took up position on either side of the loading bay doors. Weapons drawn, but carefully pointed at the ground. Officially, everyone's trigger safeties were supposed to be engaged, but Leon suspected at least a few weren't following orders. Giving the benefit of the doubt to a possible BOW just wasn't in the DSO's nature.

A large truck was being guided towards the unloading platform, the warning signal pierced the air with rhythmic beeps as it edged its way closer. The back end of the truck settled into the rubber buffer that prevented scraping on concrete and the truck came to a full stop.

The engine cut out, leaving the occupants of the loading bay to stare in silence at the large white mental doors that separated them from the contents of the new Eden transport vehicle.

A gaggle of men in white lab coats stepped forward, and with the help of the loading bay crew they pried open the truck's back doors. A blast of cool air came from inside, dropping the temperature in the loading bay enough to give Leon chills.

A large glass tube lay inside the truck bed. It was about six feet long and two feet wide. Just big enough to hold a human-sized bioweapon if it were lying on its back. The tube was set in some kind of computer. Several screens protruded out at odd angles. The data on most was too small to read from a distance away, but Leon could make out the heart rate monitor. A thin line pulsed once every second, stilling to a complete halt before the next pulse came.

The platform and tube were on wheels, so it had been tied down in the truck to prevent the rig from banging against the inside walls. The men in lab coats, who could safely be identified as New Eden Eugenics staff, began the laborious process of unstrapping their decade long labor from the transport vehicle. The DGO looking on like hawks.

The head researchers had authority to stand and watch the affair from a few feet away. Leon spared a moment to glance towards them. He recognized the first man from his personal file.

Dr. Marcelo Jimenez was officially registered as a consulting specialist on Project Genesis and had been credited with the discovery of the fundamental principles the whole project was based on.

According to his file, the umbrella corporation had made several unsuccessful attempts to hire him away from NEE. Likely in an attempt to gain his research for their own purposes.

Beside him was a slightly shorter man wearing a modified lap coat. Where the coat should have ended in a collar around his neck, it instead kept going, forming a large white hood that hid most of his face.

Leon took a small step away, pressing a finger to the outgoing communication switch on his headset.

"Hunnigan, who's that man in the hood?"

The sound of clicking keys preceded the answer.

"That's... Ruben Victoriano. We couldn't find a picture to attach to his file. At least not a recent one. He suffered major three degree burns in a fire several years back. He refused treatment and ended up with scars over much of his body. Suppose he's been a little camera shy after that."

Leon's nodded, even though Hunnigan couldn't see him. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Ruben was staring at him. His eyes betrayed no hint of emotion, negative or otherwise. Leon attempted to give a similar look in return, but his attention was distracted by the dark purple scars that covered one side of the man's face.

He stopped staring and shuffled a little further away. Keeping a hand to his ear as Hunnigan continued her briefing.

"-As far as we can tell he's never been admitted to any medical or scientific program at the university level. Exactly what he's doing with a team of the world's foremost biological researchers is anyone's guess. His position at the company is basically a bunch of marketing fluff words. Something about innovation and change management."

Leon clicked his tongue, "wonderful, and I supposed it's already occurred to you that fire scars could be a perfect way to disguise genetic mutation?"

"It's a possibility, though New Eden claim to have perfected mutations that are invisible from the outside. Either way, two BOWs of unknown strength aren't significantly more dangerous than one. We have all our bases covered here."

Leon was about to argue when something taped him on the shoulder.

The DSO agent whipped around, probably a little faster than was necessary. When he hadn't been looking Dr. Jimenez had left Ruben standing in the middle of the loading bay and made his way over to him.

The Doctor blinked at the startled DSO agent, his hand paused in midair for a handshake. "Ah.. Sorry, I was about to introduce myself. You're Leon Kennedy right?"

Leon glanced at the offered hand, but didn't take it. "Yeah. Dr. Jimenez, right?"

"The same." Dr. Jimenez tucked both hands back into his lab coat. "So Mr. Kennedy, were you planning to join us in the demonstration chamber?"

"That was the optimal state of events." Leon replied, "If you think it's safe for your... project, of course."

"Actually, it's lucky you should mention that. I was hoping you would be part of our demonstration. Speaking on behalf of the company. I feel that including a member of the DCO, especially one of high standing like yourself, would help ease some of the tension between our two organizations."

Leon pretty quickly decoded this statement to read. 'We want to use your standing as a well-known zombie killer to give us credibility'. Either way, the idea sat about as well as a rock on a wedding cake. But he owned it to Adam to at least ascertain the details.

"What exactly would you want me to do-"

A loud clang reverberated across the loading bay, followed by a scream of anger. Leon looked over to see the crowd of New Eden scientists frozen in place around the tube on wheels. The bottom end had collided with the concrete floor when it was unloaded. The machine seemed to be fine, but Ruben was already striding towards it. Teeth and fists clenched.

Dr. Jimenez's eyebrows knitted together as he took off after his co-worker. Tossing his last statement over his shoulder. "Excuse me, ah, Thank you for agreeing to help Mr. Kennedy"

Leon started to argue, but he knew from experience the effort would be wasted. There was something strange about his personality that gave people the impression it was safe to ignore things he said.

The com radio in his ear buzzed on. "Interesting strategy. I wonder if they're going to credit you on the box. 'Leon S Kennedy approved' has a nice ring to it."

"Yeah, sure, if that isn't just an excuse to get me into a room with a BOW"

"No offense Leon but there are probably easier ways to kill you." Hunnigan reminded him, the eye roll audible in her tone. "Having you on the ground to assess the threat level is the most important thing here. You haven't technically agreed yet, so you can always refuse if things go south."

He couldn't argue with her there. At least it was proof that New Eden wanted this show to be successful. All the focus on a possible assassination was going to overshadow any other suspicious activity that went on today. Leon's job was to keep his ears to the ground not babysit the president, but slipping out of the personal protection mindset was easier said than done.

Over by the truck, the tube had been saved from possible denting and was being wheeled towards the doors leading out into the university. Leon followed at a safe distance. After the New Eden staff, but before Callaway's Squad.

Classes held in this building had been cancelled for today, so the walk to the display room was undisturbed by gawking staff and pupils.

They passed the entrance that led to the observation room and through the double doors of the laboratory. The two rooms shared a transparent wall made of seven layers of shatterproof glass. The observation side had an assortment of identical chairs placed in a loose interpretation of theater seats.

Through the glass Leon could see Adam sitting with one of his staff members and a secretary. Behind him the other squad of DCO agents and the secret service were standing by. Ready for any hint of danger. The rest of the seats were full of various people in business attire. Probably very powerful biotechnology investors and their staff. There was also a small crew of reporters with a full sized TV camera pressed close to the glass to get the best view of the events beyond.

The laboratory side looked a lot like an operating room. With faculties for hand washing, cabinets that stored various chemicals and medicines and large halogen lights hanging from the ceiling on adjustable arms.

The tube and its base were wheeled into the center of the room, fully in view of those sitting on the other side of the glass. Microphones were taken from a case sitting on one of the tables and pinned to the front of Dr. Jimenez's and Ruben's lab coats.

A lab tec came over and pined one to Leon's suit jacket before he could refuse. They only had three mics and none of the other scientists gathered looked like they had expected to speak. So that had to mean that convincing him to participate was always part of the plan. Though, New Eden probably would have taken another high ranking member of the DSO if they could get their hands on them.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for coming. I'm Dr. Jimenez. Head Consultant and Founder of the genesis project."

The doors leading out into the hallway were closed and the sound of deadbolts clunking into place told everyone the room was secured. No one could go in or out until the end of the demonstration.

"Now, instead of giving a lengthy talk, I think it would be best to introduce you to Leslie. There's a lot of understandable mistrust for genetically tailored creatures. However, I think as human beings we are all capable of knowing a threat when we see one. Hopefully, seeing him with your own eyes will let you better understand the true nature of our very fist living specimen."

Ruben brushed aside the New Eden scientists hovering by the machine and stood in front of the main computer connected to the tube. Everyone in the audience seemed as stunned as Leon now that things were progressing so quickly. The tension ratcheted up so fast you would have thought someone had applied live electrical wire to the DSO's collective backsides.

Leon shared a glance with the Callaway, whose team was quickly taking up tactical positions around the tube. The Captain himself stayed close to Leon, lining up against the back wall.

A loud hissing filled the air as the tube de-pressurized, the anti-infection seal unlocking. The glass of the tube swung up on a hinge near the back. Leon was standing at an odd angle and he couldn't see anything inside the tube besides a large white blob. On the other side of the glass the audience members reacted with varying degrees of confusion and interest. Adam, for his part, only wrinkled his eyebrows a little upon seeing the creature.

Leon skirted closer, curiosity getting the better of him. Something inside the tube moved and he stopped dead in his tracks.

Dr. Jimenez came up on the opposite side of the tube from Ruben and offered his hand to the culture in the tube. From the depths of the pure white padding, an arm reached to take it.

The skin was deadly white. That explained why it had been so hard to pick out from the equally white holding chamber. Slowly, and with a lot of assistance from Dr. Jimenez, the figure managed to scramble out of the bed-like bottom half of the tube.

The artificially created man looked exactly like a flesh and blood human. Albeit one suffering from albinism. Short wispy strands of white hair covered his eyes and he was dressed in loose fitting clothing that resembled a prison jumpsuit but colored white insisted of orange.

His shoulders were hunched, his arms crossed tight around his body, as if he needed to take up as little space as possible. Moving gradually but deliberately, he lifted his hands to rub at his eyes. He was still probably dazed from his nap inside the tube. The truck carrying him had driven all the way from New Eden's labs in New Mexico. Given the safety issues, he probably hadn't been allowed out for the entire time.

"Did you have a nice nap Leslie?" Dr. Jimenez asked, carefully leading the man towards the glass so the audience could get a proper look at him.

"Leslie... nap... nap... Leslie..." slowly Leslie lifted his head, freezing in place as his blue eyes widened. At least fifty pairs of eyes were watching him. Staring with either fascination, disgust, or cold indifference.

Leslie screamed, breaking free of Dr. Jimenez's grip and diving for the cover of the nearest table. Callaway lifted his gun, clicking the safety off and bringing the barrel up, aiming at the table.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that! As you can see, while Leslie is fully functional in almost all respects, his development of social skills and self-awareness are not quite up to typical standards." Dr. Jimenez brushed off his jacket and walked calmly over to where Leslie was hiding.

His hiding spot was fairly open and everyone could still see him curled up into a ball on the linoleum floor. Shivering with waves of panic.

"That makes sense. Recreating the neurological functions is the hardest part of making synthetic humans." Hunnigan's voice said in Leon's ear. "Judging from his behavior I would guess Leslie has some form of Mental illness. It's almost more impressive that they managed to synthesize someone with a psychiatric disorder actually. New Eden could very well be steps away from creating the first artificial brain.

"You could sound a little less impressed you know" Leon muttered. His attention still mostly focused on Dr. Jimenez slowly coxing Leslie out from under the table. The process involved a fair bit more tugging and pushing than Leon thought was necessary.

Dr. Jimenez has been right about one thing though. Just looking at Leslie made all the careful planning and speculations that had consumed much of his last month seem ludicrous. There were almost fifty highly trained and heavily armed DSO agents in the building. All for one albino man who was scared of getting too much attention.

Two lab tecs came to help and together they frog marched Leslie back to the center of the room. He kicked at them with his full strength but the impacts were barely enough to make the two taller men flinch. Either this was a very elaborate set up, or Leslie didn't have any more strength than the average mid-twenty year old. Judging by his gaunt figure, he probably had less.

Once he was settled next to Dr. Jimenez in the center of the room, he didn't try to bolt again. He just stood and shivered. His hands curled into little fists near his chest.

"As you can see, Leslie here is hardly dangerous. His exceptional abilities lie not in destructive ability, but in restorative and creative ones. Leslie possesses the staggering cell reproduction capabilities found in sufferers of the various strains of progenitor virus, but without much of the accompanying mental and physical damage."

Ruben pushed his co-worker aside, walking purposefully towards Leslie. Seeing him come close, the younger man's quivering shoulders stilled and stopped. His Blue eyes gained a look eerily reminiscent of a rabbit staring into the headlights of an oncoming car.

A small wheel mounted table was offered to Ruben. He picked a small scalpel from the metal tray and retched out to grasp Leslie's wrist.

"Now, we're going to create a shallow laceration on the underside of Leslie's forearm to demonstrate. I assure you this hurts only as much as a pinprick." Dr. Jimenez continued, turning with everyone else to watch the demonstration.

Ruben tugged Leslie's towards him and pressed the blade to the underside of his arm, close to the elbow. Since he wasn't equipped with a microphone, Leslie's whine of pain was probably lost on everyone not in the room with him.

Ruben cut down the length of Leslie's arm. Leon wasn't sure if he agreed with the doctor's definition of 'shallow'. From where he was standing it looked like the blade went at least half an inch into the skin. Tears gathered at the corners of Leslie's eyes and spilled out over his cheeks. But the sobs that should have followed never came.

A bright red line of blood pooled on Leslie's arm, the deep red color was shockingly bright against his snowy skin. Ruben held Leslies arm so the crowd behind the glass wall could see. The younger man tried to pull his arm away, but Ruben's grip was too strong for him to gain even an inch.

The fresh blood line got darker and soon it would start dripping down the sides of Leslie's arm. But then, all at once, the bleeding stopped. A silent moment passed. Then Ruben plucked a small cotton swab from the medical instrument tray, using it to wipe away the trail of blood on Leslie's arm.

Once the blood was gone, it was clear that the cut had completely healed. Not even a scar was left to indicate the cut had ever been there.

"Because of obvious ethical issues we haven't tested the limits of Leslie's abilities. However, we have observed him mending his own bones after one very unfortunate accident." Dr. Jimenez explained, giving the signal to Ruben to release Leslie.

The albino experiment took his arm back and cradled it to his chest. He didn't seem to be in pain though.

"Of course, this ability wouldn't be as impressive if it were only beneficial to our specially created subjects. Leslie can temporarily transfer his rapid cell regeneration process into cells belonging to other organisms by being in physical contact. As we will demonstrate next." Dr. Jimenez turned to Leon "Mr. Kennedy of the DSO Has kindly volunteered to help."

All the DSO members present, including those on the other side of the glass, all turned to stare at Leon in confusion. The plan had always been to blend into the background the let the New Eden staff do the science-y stuff. That and everyone who knew Leon also knew how likely it was that he really volunteered.

Hunnigan voice's came over the com in his ear, inaudible to everyone else.

"It's up to you Leon. But getting a firsthand account of how this works would be useful. If this is legitimate, it could be bigger than the discovery of antibiotics and penicillin combined."

Leon groaned under his breath, the pressure to do or say something was increasing by the second.

"Ugh, fine. But someone is going to owe me dinner after this." He muttered into his headset. He looked over at Ruben and Dr. Jimenez as he detached himself from the sidelines.

"Ah, good." Dr. Jimenez tapped Leslie on the shoulder, pulling his attention away from his arm. "Leslie this is Leon. You're going to show Leon how you make things better, okay?"

Leslie glanced up at Leon, as if only noticing he existed once it was pointed out to him. The albino tensed, then seemed to relax a tiny fraction.

"S-show Leon how… make things better… okay?" Leslie asked tentatively.

The DSO agent nodded, not sure how else to respond. His eye was drawn away from Leslie when he felt someone grasp his arm. Ruben had located a fresh scalpel and wasn't going to waste any time before the demonstration.

"May I proceed Mr. Kennedy?"

Leon felt a faint prickle of trepidation at the base of his spine, but the TV camera was on him and hundreds of thousands were watching the events from home. Not to mention Adam and Ingrid.

"Yeah, sure…"

Antiseptic was applied to Leon's underarm in a short line, stopping three inches away from his wrist. Ruben's scalpel cut along it. He handed the blade with thoroughly practiced skill. The cut was so shallow it felt more like a faint burning that the sharp pain one expected from a flesh wound. Leon couldn't help but notice the demonstration cut he received was shallower than Leslie's. It was probably because he, for one, could fight back.

Blood began to pool over the broken skin. Dr. Jimenez carefully nudged Leslie closer to Leon, gesturing to the DSO agent to hold out his arm.

Leslie's permanently wandering attention began to gather together as he became increasingly aware of what was being expected of him. He took Leon's hand in both of his. His pale fingers had such a gentle grip it almost felt like Leon had stuffed his hand into a feather pillow.

Leslie leaned over the DSO agents arm, taking in the measure of the injury. He cautiously avoided Leon's gaze as he traced a finger slowly over the laceration. As Leslie's finger came in contact with the cut, Leon felt a buzzing sensation under the digit, not unlike a static shock.

He winced, realizing that was his skin knitting back together. Leslie moved his finger, literally wiping away the cut as if it was a line of spilled syrup on a countertop.

"Leon, okay." Leslie murmured as he let go of Leon's arm. His pointer finger had a few drops of Leon's blood on it. Leslie glanced down at it, then slowly raised his hand to his mouth, licking the drops off his fingers.

Leon tensed. Hopefully this wasn't one of those situations where a taste of human blood would create a craving for it.

"So? How do you feel Mr. Kennedy? We're waiting with baited breath to hear" Dr. Jimenez prompted, reminding Leon about the extensive audience. Captain Callaway in particular looked like he was expecting Leon to mutate into a BOW right there and then.

"I'm fine." He rubbed his arm, trying to find any sore spots or oddities. His arm looked and felt just like it had five minutes ago. "It's completely healed, I'll give you that. I assume you've tested more serious injuries than a cut?"

"Of course." Dr. Jimenez agreed. "Leslie's ability has proven to be effective against blunt force trauma, aviation injury, and internal bleeding. The lack of medical training doesn't seem to be an imperative either, healing seems to be an instinct for him."

Leon nodded, taking a few steps away as he attempted to fade back into the background and out of the spotlight. Leslie seemed to notice him leaving and made a soft keening sound. The look in his blue eyes caused a literal pain to erupt in Leon's chest. It wasn't enough to stop him from his retreat, but damn did something about Leslie ever get to him.

He would have to ask Hunnigan about the possibility of psychological empathy being used as a weapon. With a bit of luck she might even take him seriously. He had a bit of a reputation for being too much of a bleeding heart for his job description.

Dr. Jimenez went on at length about the possibility of mass producing life forms like Leslie and installing them in hospitals. Due to the incredible expense involved, only private hospitals would be able to afford their own. Or possibly a very rich businessman who could afford to spend a couple of billion dollars on immortality.

There was also talk about stabilizing the mental state of the future models. Apparently, the original goal was to recreate a human level of self-identity and intelligence. But it was decided later that a low level of intelligence was preferable if it would increase stability.

While Dr. Jimenez was giving his presentation, Leslie was left on his own. The practical demonstrations over for now.

Every once and a while Leon glanced over at the younger man. Around the third time he noticed that Leslie was, ever so slowly, inching towards him. Leslie had a rather unique style of movement when he wasn't being pushed or pulled around. It was more of a shuffle than anything else. As if he hadn't received the memo everyone else had about how his legs were supposed to work.

Captain Callaway had noticed what was going on as well. His fingers tightened around his gun as Leslie got closer.

Leon was about to shake his head at Callaway to dissuade him, but before he could Leslie tripped on his own toes and stumbled forward, careening into Leon headfirst. The DSO agent exhaled loudly in surprise, his arms bracing against Leslie's chest to help keep the albino on his feet.

Leslie himself didn't seem to be at all bothered by the collision. He reached up and gently pulled on a few strands of Leon's hair. Leaning upwards like he wanted to whisper something in the DSO agent's ear.

Leon leaned in, he wouldn't be much of a special agent if he refused information from a firsthand source. As he moved, the hand on his hair shifted down to his neck.

Leslie took a deep breath, his lips only a few centimeters from Leon's cheek.

The sound of gunfire ripped through the air like a thunderclap. Leon felt Leslie wrenched from his arms. Three rounds of high caliber bullets ripped through the albino's body and sent the young man stumbling backwards. The bullets embedded themselves in the glass wall five seconds before Leslie collapsed into it. Blood blossomed into stains as the fabric of his shirt soaked it up.

Leslie's head rolled to the side, his eyes closed. The power of the shots must have knocked him unconscious. One of the new Eden lab tecs screamed. The rest stood in shocked silence. Everyone in the room, and on the other side of it, we're all thinking the same thing. Would Leslie be able to recover from that?

Captain Callaway stampeded over to Leon and put himself between his superior and the disabled artificial human.

"Leon, are you-"

"What the fuck Callaway!" Leon's roar interrupted the senior officer halfway through his sentence. Callaway paled, his mistake starting to dawn on him.

"He was about to rip your neck open!" Callaway insisted, jabbing at Leslie's prone form.

Dr. Jimenez walked over to the limp form of his life's work, and kneeled beside Leslie on the floor. He checked for a pulse, then lent over the albino's chest to check his breathing.

"You fucking idiot, that kid couldn't rip the top off a cardboard box." Leon growled, shoving Callaway aside. He turned to Dr. Jimenez, his stomach twisting from second hand guilt. "Is he going to be-"

Leslie's eyes shot open and his whole body seized up in pain. Dr. Jimenez, sensing what was about to happen, reeled away from Leslie and covered his ears.

The genetic experiment let loose a blood curdling scream that grew in pitch and intensity until everyone in the room was slumped on the floor clutching their ears.

Leon could hardly keep his eyes open as pain reverberated through his mind. The sound scaled up, octave by octave, until it was inaudible by human ears. Only the feeling of sound waves pushing against him and the unwavering pain told Leon that it wasn't over yet.

Then a sound that was _very_ audible came from the glass partition separating the two rooms. Leslie's scream didn't just break the layers of bulletproof glass, It pulverized them into trillions of tiny shards held together only by the plastic shatterproof coating.

Only the plastic coating had never been made to support the half ton of glass by itself. Without any support the window bulged inwards and ripped diagonally, spilling tiny crystals out all over the floor on both sides of the wall.

The screaming stopped abruptly, but the silence didn't last for even a moment.

Leon pushed himself up on one elbow, squinting through the pounding in his head. He saw the broken window and instantly realised what it meant. The secure zone had been breached and everyone was reverting to emergency situation orders.

The secret service and the DSO agents who had been on the other side of the glass were herding the president towards the nearest exit. Leon wanted to jump to his feet and help, but there were already too many people trying to escort Adam.

He struggled to his knees, hoping to get a read on the current situation. All the DCO members in the lab were still on the floor. Callaway, the asshat, was still clutching his ears and cringing. The lab tecs, by contrast, had at least know the specimen could do that and had been a little better prepared for the situation. Some were already on their feet.

"Leslie... Leslie! Come out right this moment!"

Dr. Jimenez was yelling, though not in any particular direction. Leon scanned the room again for signs of Leslie, but came up empty. There was still a pool of blood on the floor where he had fallen, but that was the only trace that he had ever been there. The lab and the observation room had no hiding spots. The DCO had intentionally set them up that way. If Leslie wasn't visible he was well and truly gone.

Leon reached for the com in his ear, but Leslie's scream had shattered something important in its inner workings and it didn't respond to him.

He sighed and slumped to the floor. "Another worst case scenario. It's almost comforting at this point"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so, I feel like I'm obligated to at least partly explain why this strange fan fiction exists. The short version has two parts so here we go. 
> 
> 1\. Resident Evil 4 and Evil within are both video games that I have played with exactly one character I like enough to want to write about them. So why not pair them up? 
> 
> 2\. in its early stages this was a Leon/OC fanfic. The role I gave to Leslie was being played by a semi-neurotic magical girl I invented. I never made it past the first few pages of the first draft, but when I was playing Evil Within it occurred to be that Leslie would fit really well as a genetic experiment with strange unpredictable powers. (Plus I could steal the villains from TEW and not have to make up my own)


	2. Extending an olive branch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie is found, Leon makes some bad judgment calls, and everyone else gets super upset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi readers. So I just wanted say little thank you. I really wasn't expecting to get this much support for my 5am, energy drink fueled, playing the goddamn spider lady boss scripted run away scene for the 25th time, fever dream fan-fic ideas. But here we are.
> 
> just so we're all on the same page. I reply to comments usually right before I post the next chapter. so all you annons should check the last chapter after an update for my replies.

Leon collapsed backwards onto the sofa in his hotel suite, a long sigh passing his lips as his body went slack. Now that he finally had a second to rest every last scrap of energy had left him. His arms and legs felt like they were made of stone and everything ached when he held still long enough to notice.

Seven hours had passed since the presumed non-hostile genetic experiment had managed to slip out from under the DSO's collective noses. Leon had led captain's Callaway's team as they helped search Weill Cornell Medical College from top to bottom. The captain himself was removed to the loading dock to sweat it out with the handlers manning the communication lines.

Two hours without a sighting and the DSO was forced to assume the subject had managed to slip out of the building. They spread out, widening the search area towards Manhattan.

Streets around the collage were shut down, but Manhattan was too large a city center to bare its bridges being blockaded, even for the president's special task force. Tactical work on the crowded streets was almost impossible, and, just to compound the problem, Manhattan was also home to most of the major news network studios. So reporters were on standby to pounce on anyone caught wearing the DSO logo.

Four hours after the incident, it became clear that Leslie wasn't going to be found until he decided to reveal his location. They just had to wait and hope they could corner him before he vanished.

The new Eden staff had become understandably tight lipped after the disaster in the college laboratory. There was no denying Callaway's hasty action had been out of line and now even the tenuous trust that has been formed between the DCO and New Eden was strained to breaking point.

Dr. Jimenez insisted that Leslie would find his way back, and in the meantime, he wasn't a danger to anyone but himself. Unfortunately, it took a lot more than reassuring words to soothe the American populous.

Leon had stayed for as long as Hunnigan would let him. Leslie's disappearance might not have been entirely his fault, but he couldn't help but feel responsible. If he had followed orders and stayed away from Leslie, the albino experiment would be halfway home by now.

Thinking about that quiet man with big blue eyes, lost and alone on the Manhattan streets, made Leon's stomach twist up in sympathy. Though, given the ultrasonic scream Leslie had seemingly pulled out of nowhere, maybe his concerns were unfounded.

The DSO agent sighed, shifting over onto his side on the sofa. His eyes landing on one of the chairs across from him. Leslie was sitting in it, with his legs folded up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees tightly.

Leon's brain took in the image, but it was a good two seconds more before the synapses fired and communicated the proper reaction to the rest of him. He jerked up, all traces of his fatigue eaten up by a sudden shock of adrenaline.

"L-Leslie?!"

The albino flinched at the sound of his own name. Leon bit down on his lip as he remembered to lower his volume.

He stood up, not making any sudden movements as he crossed the room and kneeled beside the chair Leslie was sitting in.

"We've been looking for you everywhere Leslie, where have you been?"

The albino chewed on the inside of his cheek, then finally turned to look at Leon face-on. He lifted a hand and pointed to Leon's chest.

"I've been… with Leon..." he murmured forcing Leon to lean a little closer to hear him properly.

"You've been following me?" Leon blinked, trying to rewind his day in his mind. If Leslie did have some kind of natural camouflage, what better place to stay unnoticed than right behind a strike team looking for him?

Leon laughed out loud and shook his head. Leslie's lips twitched into an uneasy half smile, more because Leon looked happy then because he got the joke.

Leon went to go fetch his cell phone from his jacket pocket and pulled the second armchair over next to the one Leslie was sitting in. He started punching in Hunnigan's field unit contact number, but paused before he hit the last few digits.

Now that he got a chance to properly look at Leslie, he could see how haggard the younger man looked. His bare feet were caked with dirt, no doubt from padding along after him all day. Leon remembered how Leslie usually walked, and it was astonishing he had been able to keep up all day.

Still, that was just one more reason to get him back home ASAP. Right?

Leon finished dialing, and raised the phone to his ear. He barely had to wait two rings before his call was picked up.

"You're off duty Kennedy. Please don't tell me you've gone rogue again." Hunnigan said, skipping over the usual 'hello' and 'how are you'.

"I've found Leslie. He followed me back to my hotel room." Leon leaned over and ruffled Leslie's hair. The albino didn't seem to notice, but Leon could swear his shoulders relaxed just a little bit.

"Oh, you have got to be-" Hunnigan lapsed into a brief bout of cursing, which was completely unlike her. Seems even her stone-cold professionalism got worn down under enough stress.

"Are you absolutely sure you've found project genesis?" she asked, her voice strained with frustration.

Leon looked over to his albino companion. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Damn it. Alright, Leon. We've been tracking a false lead and it's going to take a while for us to get to your position. Do you think you can keep Project Genesis with you?"

Leslie has shifted in his chair and taken Leon's free hand in his own, squeezing it with that feather-light grip of his.

"Definitely. Do you have an ETA?"

"Three hours."

Leon snorted in surprise. "Seriously? Is everyone on lunch break or something?"

"No, but New Eden Eugenics has requested we don't try to make contact with their subject. We're just supposed to relay any new information. DSO can't step in unless lives are in danger." Hunnigan explained.

Leon frowned. "Fantastic, more politics."

Totally oblivious of the conversation going on, Leslie had pressed his palm flat against Leon's, comparing they're hand sizes. Leon's fingers were nearly twice as thick as Leslie's, and his palm could probably cover most of Leslie's fist if he tried.

"We can't risk another conflict with New Eden, they already have decent grounds for a lawsuit and that's even assuming we get genesis back in one piece."

"He has a name, you know." Leon interrupted, lacing his fingers into Leslie's.

A long silence came from the other end of the phone line. The kind of long silence that usually ends with a visit to the Departmental Phycologist for a PTSD assessment.

"Alright Leon. I can arrange backup if you need it, but if we can minimize our involvement that would be ideal." Hunnigan picked up the conversation as best she could. Her tone clearly indicating she was ready to end this communication.

"Ten-four Hunnigan. I'll keep an eye on Leslie. Just do whatever it is you have to in the meantime." he hung up the phone and tossed it at the sofa. The small device bounced on the cushions, then settled next to a throw pillow.

If New Eden was going to take that long to arrive, the least Leon could do was make Leslie a little more comfortable. The younger's man white jumpsuit was showing the wear from being dragged all over New York City. Not to mention the fact that the garment looked like it was made out of some half polyester blend that was scratchy as heck.

Leon unlaced their fingers and told Leslie to wait while he found something better for him to wear. The albino curled up into a ball, seeming to drift back into his own thoughts. But even when he was relaxing, Leslie didn't stop moving. Even if it was just his eyes or his fingers, something had to constantly twitch or glance around.

It reminded Leon of animal documentaries set in the African savanna. Herbivores like gazelle had to wander out to an exposed watering hole to drink, pausing every few seconds to make sure a lion wasn't creeping up behind them.

Leon walked to the bedroom and dug into his suitcase. A lot of the clothing he packed was tailored or tight fitting, but he did pack at least one thing that wouldn't look silly on Leslie's smaller frame. He found the dark green hoodie and pulled it out from the bottom of the case.

The pants would be harder, he would just have to cuff the bottom until the legs were short enough to not be a tripping hazard. He left the set of clothes on the countertop in the bathroom and went to go fetch Leslie.

Leon was tempted to pick up the Leslie-ball and carry him to the bathroom, but he suspected that the scientists at New Eden forcibly moved Leslie around more than anyone would like as it was.

"Hey Leslie, there's not exactly a tactful way to put this, but would you like a shower?" Leon asked, leaning over the back of the chair the albino was sitting in. Leslie tilted his head back to look up at him.

After a pause Leslie nodded. The slight shake of his head would have been hard to notice is Leon hadn't been watching for it. Taking that as the best answer he was likely to get, Leon led the younger man through the bedroom and into the ensuite bathroom.

He leaned into the shower and gave the handle a yank, jerking out of the way of the oncoming water stream before it ruined his shirt. As they waited for the water to heat up, Leslie wandered over to the countertop and examined the pile of clothes Leon had left there.

"Those are for you." Leon explained, "I thought you might feel more comfortable in them."

"More comfortable in them." Leslie parroted back, lifting the hoodie up by the shoulders. He ran his fingers over the soft material, engrossed in the feeling of the fleece against his skin.

Leon was about to leave Leslie to it, when a thought crossed his mind. He didn't know for sure if the younger man had ever been taught how to use a shower. For all he knew, Leslie could have been in a tube for his whole life before this morning's demonstration.

The possibility of showering together to show Leslie what to do popped into Leon's mind just long enough to prompt another question about whether the albino's skin would still be that milky color all the way down. Both of those thoughts where promptly throttled before any further speculation could happen.

"You know how to use a shower, right Leslie?" Leon asked, trying his best not to sound patronizing.

Leslie gave another one of his tiny nods. He put the hoodie back down and started to tug the top part of his jumpsuit over his head.

Leon backed out of the room, shutting the door gingerly behind him. He settled on the sofa again and located his phone. Before Leslie had appeared out of thin air, he had been meaning to check the news reports. He had been going back and forth with himself all day trying to predict what the major news networks would make of Leslie's escape.

He flipped through a few major headlines. From the look of the timelines, it seemed that coverage of the situation had trickled away around the time the DSO called off the active search. Presumably, five hours without any new information had worn down even the United States' cable news hype machine. That, or New Eden had managed to apply grease in just the right places to make the story fade away quickly.

* * *

Leslie wandered back into the living room almost half an hour later. His white hair was still wet and the strands clung together, just covering his eyes. Leon's hoodie draped over him like a blanket, the sleeves covered his hands and the hem rested just above his knees.

The jeans weren't much better. The cuffs were at least an inch thick, and what was a midrise belt line on Leon was dangerously low on Leslie. Not that it was much of a problem, since the oversized sweater covered his hips completely.

When Leon took in the sight of Leslie in his borrowed clothes, the chest ache that Leslie's gave him in the college laboratory returned with a vengeance.

The younger man looked a lot better than he had a little while ago. More like his own person than someone else's lab rat.

Leon was about to express his approval, but his stomach decided that now would be the perfect moment to remind him that they hadn't eaten since breakfast. Leon had been meaning to go out for pizza but it had completely slipped his mind.

"I bet your hungry too, Hun?" he asked, standing up to grab his jacket from the hook by the door.

Leslie followed him at a short distance. "Hungry." He agreed.

Leon realized that neither the DSO nor New Eden would be happy about him taking Leslie out for dinner. It was almost romantic in a dumb way, like they were Romeo and Juliet, but if the warring families were actually a private pharmaceutical giant and a militarized governmental regulation and enforcement agency.

Playing by the rules wasn't Leon's style, though, and it had served him well so far. If his heart said he should treat a cute guy to some of the best pizza in the USA, he wasn't going to argue.

He pulled up the hood on Leslie's sweater. In New York anyone could blend into the crowd, even if they had been on national TV this morning. But Leslie's albino skin and hair would draw more attention than most, and it was better to be safe.

"I'm going to go out and get some food, do you want to come with me?" Leon asked. Two blue eyes peeked out at him from under the hood, and Leslie reached out to take Leon's hand with both of his.

* * *

 Leslie stuck close to Leon as they exited the hotel and took to the streets of the city. The sun had set hours ago, and the lights of New York were shining brightly it its absence. The hood allowed Leslie to peak out at the sights and sounds while also providing a safe space to duck into if he got overwhelmed.

Leon knew where they were going, and Leslie was content to go with him. He knew about people well enough to know when someone could be trusted. Actually, it was more like he felt about people.

When the man called Jimenez was around, Leslie felt like something thick and slimy was sliding down his back. By contrast, sharing air with Ruvik brought the taste of blood into his mouth. Metallic, visceral, and always freshly spilled, but not enough. Never enough.

The faceless men in lab coats were all different, but they passed too quickly for Leslie to remember.

Then there was Leon. Leon was like the clothing he had given to Leslie. Warm, comfortable, and all-encompassing. Like hiding under the blankets to ward off a monster. Leslie felt, even though he couldn't explain how, that Leon would be there for him. Never alone. Not alone.

The crowds pushed in against them as they got closer to time's square. Walking together took up a fair bit of the sidewalk, and they made a tempting target for fast-walking New Yorker's to push past. Leslie's grip on Leon's arm progressed steadily upward as he tried to minimize the parts of him that weren't in the personal space protection-bubble of the DSO agent.

He practically melted into Leon's side, embracing the entirety of the older man's left arm in a way that even a newlywed couple might think twice about.

The bright flashing advertisements overhead made Leslie's eyes sting. They were like voices in his mind yelling things in harsh voices. Drowning out his thoughts. He pulled the hood over his eyes, he didn't mind not seeing. The dark wouldn't get him as long as he held tight to Leon's hand.

There was a doorway, and more bright lights. Then the smell of tomato, fresh dough and melting cheese. Leslie peaked out between the brim of his hood and Leon's arm. There were chefs behind a counter, tossing large flat pieces of something that looked squishy into the air.

One man was spreading red stuff all over the flat things. It wasn't blood, tomato possibly, like ketchup?

Leon said something to a man behind the cash register and money changed hands. All the while the sales person shot Leslie sideways glances. The silent judgment hit like a physical attack, but Leon held firm beside Leslie, resisting the recoil that threatened to send him spiraling into a sickeningly familiar panic.

He was pulled from the front, away from the costumers waiting to be served and towards the seating area nestled in the back of the restaurant. The majority of diners were after a quick bite en route to somewhere else, so the back area was relatively quiet compared to the bustling order counter.

The whole restaurant was about the same size as Leon's hotel suit, but laid out so the short side of the rectangle faced out towards Times Square. As with everything else in Manhattan, space was at a high premium.

The walls were minimally decorated and the chairs were of the plastic lawn variety. The aluminum table had a space in the middle that a sun umbrella might have one day hoped to slide into.

Now that they were away from the crowds Leslie felt safe enough to release most of Leon's arm and settle for holding hands instead. The DSO agent kicked up his feet on one of the empty chairs, leaning back so far that the plastic had to warp to accommodate.

"Damn, I haven't had a day this tiring in a long time." Leon commented, giving the thin fingers in his grip a gentle squeeze. "Not that I blame you for any of it. This whole thing was a paranoia fuelled shit storm from beginning to end." Leon ruffled his own hair with a free hand, pushing the longer blond bangs out of his eyes while he was at it. "I have to admit I'm surprised you would come back after that. Especially to me of all people."

Leslie pursed his lips. Leon had a very fluid way of speaking and he seemed content to do so even when he didn't receive any answer. Leslie could never communicate like that.

No matter how hard he tried His thoughts refused to form into words. Leslie's world was an endless stream of light, sound, and color. But those ideas never wrapped themselves into the tiny packages that everyone else used to express themselves.

Sometimes people got angry with him because they felt like he was ignoring them, or that he didn't care. But the truth was Leslie always paid attention. He noticed things others didn't, and things that people tried to hide.

"Even with you AWOL, New Eden acquired more than enough funding from today's demonstration." Leon shrugged, glancing sideways at Leslie. "I can't say I'm surprised. Biological immortality is one thing, but being able to have that without causing massive cancerous cell buildup or DNA damage? That's game changing. "

"Make better." Leslie agreed. Earning an amused snort from Leon.

Leon changed positions, bracing his elbows on the table instead and leaning closer to Leslie. Looking the younger man in the eyes. "It doesn't hurt, right? When you heal people?"

Leslie blinked and shook his head. The making better part never hurt. The painful part was getting hurt to be healed, or watching someone else be hurt.

"Oh… Yeah, of course. I don't know why I was thinking that."

Leon attempted to change topics, asking Leslie what he thought of New York City. The conversation was fairly one-sided, but neither of them minded. Leslie had a feeling Leon was just happy to have someone to talk to.

But after it had been given some time to stew, Leon's question started bugging Leslie. It was a frightening idea. Because even if making people better did hurt, Leslie knew that he would be forced to do it anyway. Making things better was all he was good for. All the doctors cared about… besides Ruvik.

His imagination started to wander, bringing the images to life around him. Fear coursed through his veins like ice cold water, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking about it. The hand that was being held loosely in Leon's began to tremble along with much of the upper half of his body.

Leon stopped mid-sentence, cupping Leslie's cheek with his free hand and turning the younger man's head so he had no choice but to look Leon in his golden eyes. The concerned stare pierced though Leslie, and slowed the runaway train of his thoughts to a crawl.

From somewhere that sounded miles away, someone shouted something at them. Leon swore and stood up. Leslie tried to keep a hold of his hand, but he wasn't strong enough. He slunk back into his hoodie, feeling awkwardly stuck between the onset of panic and calm.

Thankfully, Leon was only a few seconds, and he returned with a plate larger than Leslie's torso. He placed the pizza on the table and settled back into his seat.

"Sorry about that, are you okay? You looked startled all of a sudden."

Leslie shook his head for yes. Straining to try to say something to explain himself. "Bad thoughts…"

"Here try some of this, it might help you feel better." Leon extracted a piece of the massive flat thing and handed it to Leslie. It smelled so good that the albino couldn't hold himself back from trying it.

Leon took another slice for himself, watching with no small degree of pride as Leslie snapped up his food with a gusto usually reserved for hungry puppies. Leslie reached for another one, but paused halfway through, waiting for permission. Leon nodded and Leslie took another, eating this one a tad slower than the last.

"Let me guess, you've never had pizza before?" Leon asked between mouthfuls.

Leslie shook his head in the affirmative. He would have to remember how to use that word. Maybe, just maybe if he was good and asked nicely he might get it again.

"I wish I was surprised, ten billion dollar project and they don't even give you decent food." Leon sighed. "Well, at least we started you off with the best there is."

* * *

 Leslie, despite his smaller frame, managed to eat all of his half of the massive pizza. He licked the last of the sauce off his fingers.

Leon checked his watch as they left the restaurant. It was only an hour before the ETA of New Eden's 'reinforcements', time to be getting back, if they were going.

Leslie held on lightly to Leon's sleeve. Noticeably less desperate for comfort against the New York crowds. Pigment-less eyelids were only half open at this point. No doubt the full belly of junk food had kicked in. Leon knew from experience that worrying was a lot harder on a full stomach and after a day of exercise.

The DSO agent felt like he was about to collapse too, but he had the training to ignore his body's demands when they were a lot stronger than this.

Leon's pace as they walked back to the hotel was considerably slower. His previously successful strategy of ignoring the fact he was going to hand Leslie over to Dr. Jimenez and his indifferent coworker with a passion for sharp objects, was getting less effective with every step.

At that morning's demonstration, only he had been close enough to Leslie to testify to the unnecessary force used on the albino. Even if his word was taken as infallible, a little too much force on a scalpel wasn't going to be enough cause to confiscate the primary asset of a major R&D firm.

Worse, Leslie didn't have citizenship or any rights. As far as American law was concerned, if someone was infected with a strain of the Progenitor virus, their claim on personhood was null and void. The legislation was meant to protect anyone who was forced to kill zombies from being charged with murder or manslaughter. Obviously, when it had been written the possibility of infected individuals who retained sentence wasn't considered.

Legally the researchers at New Eden could do whatever they wanted to their creations. The only danger was the public outcry that might develop if the media got wind of it. But that wasn't anything a very good marketing campaign couldn't smooth over.

What other options did he have? He could cut ties and run, but that was a temporary solution at best. Going AWOL for a week or two was one thing, but he couldn't hide Leslie forever.

Maybe he could try to convince Hunnigan to aid in some subterfuge? If the DSO successfully accused Leslie of murder, they could take him into custody. It would put them at a huge risk of retaliation from New Eden though, not to mention its parent corporation.

Caught up in his thoughts, Leon didn't notice the traffic around the Ritz-Carlton was a lot thicker than was normal, even this close to central park. Large unmarked vehicles were pulled up in front of the hotel and armored personnel carriers and large trucks almost completely blocked the road.

Leslie tugged on Leon's arm, but all he got in response was a playful pet on his head as they passed through the automatic doors leading into the hotel.

The lobby was in complete chaos, DSO agents in full body armor were herding stray civilians out of the way. Their black armor and uniforms contrasting with the pure white and red of the new Eden tactical division.

The New Eden soldier's body armor had the companies' insignia, an apple with a snake twined around it, spray painted on the back. A variety of Weapons hung from their hips. There were classic bullet firing guns, some kind of tranquilizer shooter, and short range electrical Stun Batons. A few even had what looked like fishing nets at the ready.

In the center of the room, Hunnigan was sitting on one of the lobby sofas across from Dr. Jimenez and Ruben. The doctor was red in the face and seemed more than a little upset, while Ingrid and Ruben were seemingly holding a contest for who could show the lest emotion under stress.

As Leslie and Leon stepped into the lobby, all eyes turned towards them. As the situation dawned on the DSO agent, the humor of this whole mess made Leon's lips twitch up into a smile.

"Fuck me sideways." He breathed, taking in the moment of calm before all hell broke loose.

Guns were drawn on both sides. Some pointed at Leslie, some pointed at Leon, and some were pointed at various people who were wearing the opposite colors of the person doing the pointing. Leslie shrieked in fear, fingers digging into Leon's arm. The DSO agent winced, gathering Leslie into his arms as he tried to calm the younger man down.

One of the new Eden soldiers stormed up to the pair and a large hand grabbed Leslie by the scruff of the neck. Yanking him up and away from Leon. With both of them holding on, he wasn't able to dislodge the albino, only earning another earsplitting cry of pain.

"Shut him up, quickly!" Dr. Jimenez ordered, as he sprinted over to the struggle by the door. Dutifully, the soldier holding Leslie slapped a gloved palm over the albino's mouth, muffling any further sounds.

Leon felt a flash of red hot anger he lifted the arm that Leslie wasn't clinging to and lashed out. His opponent's mouth, nose, and eyes were covered by a mask. So Leon went for the throat. The soldier stumbled back from the impact, but his grip on Leslie didn't falter.

Leon made to repeat the punch, but his arm was grabbed firmly from behind by a man in DSO amour.

"Stand down Leon." Hunnigan ordered, her tone remarkably similar to that of a primary school teacher talking to a pair of squabbling five year olds.

The force on Leon's arm increased as two New Eden soldiers tried to dislodge a struggling Leslie. The albino's fingers had to be pried one by one off of the DSO agent.

"Stop! You're going to hurt him!"

Leon's cry seemed lost on everyone present, and in a moment Leslie was finely jerked away. Even through a gloved hand, the sound of distressed screaming got louder. Leon tried to grab Leslie again, but his other arm was snatched and he was tugged backwards by his own men.

"Let go, damn it!" he hissed, throwing his shoulders left them right in an effort to shake them off.

"No can do, sir. We're under orders to detain you."

"You take your orders from me!" Leon reminded them, his eyes still locked on Leslie, who was kicking and wriggling with all his might against the oversized hired muscle.

"Not right now we don't. Your operator rank is suspended until you've cleared a psychological assessment and contamination screening, Mr. Kennedy."

Leon grit his teeth. They had to be kidding, he needed to see a shrink because he got a pizza with Leslie?

It was a damn good thing he didn't punch woman, or he might have had serious thoughts about clocking Hunnigan for this.

Tears were streaming down Leslie's cheeks, stress and fear reverting him to instinct and adrenaline. Ruben approached the scene long after his colleague. His normal impassive face creased with a note of curiosity. He watched Leslie with interest as the young man fought for freedom.

Ruben alone noticed that Leslie's eyes were no longer shallow pools of light blue. Leslie's irises and pupils were blood red and the veins along the cornea were bloodshot.

Ruben slid an Auto-injector needle from his pocket, dumping it out of the carry-case and holding it at the ready.

Leslie's screaming melted from sharp cries to a long keening whine of pain and despair. Where there had been tears, trails of blood now flowed from his eyes. Pouring down his cheeks and dripping off his chin.

Ruben struck out and jabbed the Auto injector into Leslie's thigh. The spring-loaded needle delivered its payload over ten long seconds and when Ruben pulled away, his experiment was out cold. Eyes closed, fresh blood drying on his pale face.

Leon was forcibly sat down in a lobby armchair across from Hunnigan. He didn't dare say anything to her. Right now he was in a state where he could say a lot of things that couldn't be taken back.

They watched in silence as the tube Leslie had been transported to New York in was wheeled out and the limp body of the albino was placed inside of it.

Once new Eden had cleared the area, Leon was hustled into the back of a personal carrier. He and Hunnigan were taking the express route via helicopter back to Washington DC for Debriefing.

Adam had returned to the white house five hours previously and by dawn-brake all DSO presence in Manhattan would have pulled out and new Eden and Leslie would likely be a third of the way to Albuquerque. 


	3. That Part in the Middle Where Ada Shows up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon gets an invitation to visit New Eden laborites, and with it, a front row seat to the final stages of this game. Everyone has their own goals and it’s up to the DSO’s best agent to find out what the stakes are and how to get himself and Leslie out alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, a quick word about pacing. This chapter is going to be a little denser and faster than the others. While also being the longest chapter update. Basically, when I planned out the story this part was the ????? section between the beginning and the end. So when I ended up writing it, most of my ideas collapsed together and I ended up folding what I thought would be two chapters into one. so yeah.. 
> 
> Also, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to all the caffeine that I needed to consume make it.

Leon slouched in his seat, making a point of not looking at either Hunnigan or Dr. Brian. He was still giving his handler the cold shoulder, and would probably keep doing so for a while longer. Especially while the memories of the last four days spent in quarantine were still fresh in his mind.

He didn't buy for a second that his temporary lock up was really because of a possible viral infection. Leslie had been wandering all over Manhattan and absolutely no unusual symptoms had been reported in the area.

But no one was going to question the value of precaution when it came to possible viral outbreaks. So no one had to admit that the fabled Leon S. Kennedy was actually being detained because he'd gone completely mad and started having tea parties with Bio-weapons.

Of course that was complete bullshit. Leon realized why his coworkers might think he'd gone off the deep end, but that was just because they hadn't had the same opportunity's to empathize with Leslie.

Most of the DSO had never encountered a situation where anything but shooting was required for dealing with victims of different strains of the progenitor virus. Leon, on the other hand, knew a strong young woman who survived being implanted with a g-virus embryo.

Leon would have done anything to protect her, and he felt much the same about Leslie. Whether or not they were 100% human, they deserved to be treated like it.

"For the record Dr. Brian, Do you think it's possible that project genesis could have caused a lingering psychosomatic hazard?" Hunnigan asked, as she ran a stylist over the screen of her tablet computer. She was jotting down electronic notes, more material to be added to Leon's already extensive file.

"Possibly, but agent Kennedy's personality makes it hard to know conclusively. In my talks with Leon he thoroughly explained why he empathized with the specimen. One would expect that if he was under the influence of compulsion he wouldn't be able to justify his actions."

"It's called 'giving a shit' Hunnigan, you might want to try it sometime." Leon grumbled under his breath. She and the doctor ignored him.

"Mr. Kennedy has a long history of putting other's safety before his own. A moment of pity turned into a bad judgment call, then events conspired to have the worst possible outcome of that decision."

"So what would you recommend as our future action on this issue?" Hunnigan tapped a button on the side of her tablet, a little red light flashed on to show that it was recording audio.

"Reinstate Leon's rank and privileges, and get him to issue a formal apology to New Eden Eugenics. He's more than fit to return to active duty. The sooner it happens the less of a risk is posed to his reputation and his ability to perform as a leader."

Hunnigan nodded and turned off the recording. "Thank you Brian. We will carry forward with your suggestion." She turned to Leon, her expression softening just a little. "Leon, I know you're still upset about what happened in New York. I'm very sorry things ended up going down like they did. In retrospect, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions about your involvement with Project Genesis. I realize now you were just doing what comes naturally to you."

Leon's hunched shoulders dropped, he hadn't really been expecting that.

"Ah... Thanks Hunnigan. I'm sorry too. I guess I should have been thinking about the rest of my team as well as who I'm trying to protect."

He didn't say that he regretted his choice, because honestly, he didn't, but it was plenty true that he had been thinking like an independent operator and not as part of the DSO. After doing so many missions solo, he had a bad habit of forgetting about how his actions might affect the people who stood behind him.

Dr. Brian smiled, no doubt he was going to write a glowing report about how Leon and Ingrid's professional relationship had been repaired.

The sound of hurried footsteps on tile made everyone look up. The door to the doctor's office was flung open. Outside on the landing Stewart, Hunnigan's assistant and trainee DSO handler, stood with a look of concern plastered across his boyish face.

"Sorry to interrupt. But we've just received a request for video conference from New Eden Eugenics, apparently they need to talk with agent Kennedy ASAP."

Leon and Hunnigan exchanged looks.

"I need at least a little time to write an apology. That, and six shots of whisky." Leon muttered.

Hunnigan rolled her eyes at Leon and got to her feet. Tucking her tablet into her purse.

Turning to Stewart she asked. "Did they mention what the call was about?"

"Apparently some damage was done to the genesis specimen and they're requesting that the DSO take responsibility for it."

Leon sat bolt upright in his seat. Leslie was 'damaged'? That sounded weirdly non-specific. Wasn't he supposed to be indestructible?

"Okay, lead the way Stewart." Hunnigan said, her and Leon following close on the young man's heels towards the DSO conference room.

* * *

 

Unfortunately for Leon, Hunnigan couldn't sprint and submit his reinstitution forms at the same time. So when they got to the conference room, he had to sit in the back like a Lemon while the grownups talked.

Sargent Hemsworth, on old military man in his 50's with a chin that could cut granite, had taken some kind of leadership role. Apparently he took a lot of offence to idea that a government agency would be required to bend to the needs of a private corporation. Especially one currently under active investigation.

"Absolutely not! Agent Kennedy is currently off active duty."

"Sargent Hemsworth, all we're asking is that you consider our request. The DSO has expressed an interest in settling this disagreement out of a courtroom, and we simply wished to do our part to further that goal."

Dr. Jimnenez leaned back in his chair. His image was being projected on a large flat screen TV near the head of the conference room table. The sergeant, Hunnigan, Stewart, and a few of Leon's equally ranked peers sat in the seats nearest to the monitor. Their images were being broadcast via webcam in tandem with the incoming image from the New Mexico deserts.

"Believe me, this arrangement is not ideal for myself, my researchers, or the company. Whether or not it was done with malice, the fact remains our work was severely hampered by actions taken by your agent.

Leon's hackles rose at the acquisition, but he was under strict orders to stay out of this argument. The last thing he wanted was another day in political embarrassment quarantine.

President Benford was a straight shooter, one of the many reasons Leon liked him, but the rest of his government could not be so easily parted from its rigid bureaucracy. Especially when dealing with outside parties.

Sergeant Hemsworth didn't quite match the president in straight-forwardness, but he disliked bullshit just as much.

"Forgive me for interrupting doctor" Hemsworth said, not sounding sorry in the least. "But I don't see any evidence that conclusively links our agent to your inability to handle the temper-tantrums of your own experiment."

Dr. Jimnenez looked remarkably unmoved by the argument. "Leslie is capable of expressing his own thoughts and feelings, albeit limitedly. He has mentioned your agent by name, multiple times."

Even the indomitable sergeant Hemsworth couldn't find a loophole in that logic. He glanced over at Hunnigan, who dutifully stepped in to wrestle the conversation back on to the topic at hand.

"So, according to your theory, Leon spending a few hours with project genesis led to an emotional dependence that is now hampering your experiments."

Dr. Jimnenez's eyes narrowed as he turned his attention to the female handler.

"You're forgetting to mention the stressful seven hours and physical violence that preceded it, but in essence you are correct." He crossed his arms over his chest, adding "Should Leon come to our facility he will also be free to leave at any time. We simply wish to have the opportunity to test out my theory and hoped that the DSO might be willing to cooperate as partial recompense for the New York incident."

Hunnigan nodded, and asked. "Will you give us time to consider your offer?"

"Of course, but we would greatly appreciate an answer before the end of the work day."

Hunnigan agreed to the terms, said goodbye then nodded to Stewart to end the transmission.

Mere seconds after the call ended, everyone was looking at Leon. The DSO agent shifted back in his seat bracing himself for anything.

"I think you should go Leon." Hunnigan said, taking the chance to break the silence.

"No shit, Kennedy is going!" sergeant Hemsworth chimed in. "This is a golden opportunity. Couldn't have worked out better if we planned it."

"It would have taken us months to get someone into New Eden." Stewart agreed. "Even that was optimistic, since they haven't taken on new staff in years. I can't believe they're just going to invite our top operative in."

Hunnigan flipped open her laptop, her fingers typing away at the keys as she brought up a satellite image of New Eden's base just outside New Mexico. A recording of her screen was broadcast on the large monitor, so the rest of the room could see.

"We can set up a mobile base 15 klicks from the compound. Just outside the perimeter of the company's property. In a worst case scenario we could have an armed team on site in ten minutes." Hunnigan used her mouse to highlight a section of the map that would be advantageous. Besides the chain link fence, there was nothing but miles of flat sand between it and the compound.

"We can arrange a call-in every day at a set time. If Leon fails to check in with us, or sends a distress signal, we can use that as due cause for a full search of the premises."

Leon didn't fail to notice that no one had actually asked for his opinion yet. Not that he would have had any objections if they had asked him. Throughout last week Leslie's well-being had been in the back of his mind and this video call had confirmed the worst.

He couldn't even imagine what Leslie would have had to do to force New Eden's hand. They seemed perfectly capable of manhandling the poor guy into anything, regardless of how cooperative he was. The idea that the abuse at new Eden laboratories had increased because of him made Leon physically sick to think about.

He had to find out exactly what was going on and put a stop to it if need be. Having the backing of the US government would just make that easier.

* * *

 

Though Leon was considered an agent at the DSO, he had not yet be called upon to do anything any reasonable person would call 'spying'. He was simply far too conspicuous for that. A simple Google search of his name would turn up millions of hits and thousands of pictures.

As one of the only survivors of the raccoon city incident, Leon could be defined as 'Kind of a big deal'. This was fantastic when the United States government needed a folk hero and a legend to ally themselves with. But, again, not that good for undercover jobs.

So when he was outfitted with a set of gadgets that he thought only existed in fanciful Hollywood movies, and sent into enemy territory with a pat on the ass and a kiss on the cheek, you could understand how slightly off-put he was.

Leon still had weapons of course, but a pistol hidden inside a slightly dated Smartphone was hardly a comfort when his normal field gear consisted of an assault rifle and military grade body armor.

He and the men who would be acting as his off-site backup had taken the DSO's Cessna Citation V as far as Santa Fe, then took commercial jeeps into the deserts of the surrounding county.

Everyone besides Leon was gearing up for a two week camping trip. They stopped briefly at the DSO outpost to verify everything was set up before dropping Agent Kennedy off.

The DSO's mobile command center looked like the overweight child of an RV and a bus. The sides were painted a shiny white and had a five foot tall version of the organization's logo emblazed on both of them.

Hunnigan was sitting on the steps below the back door, her laptop resting on her thighs. She looked completely out of place in the barren desert, hundreds of miles away from high-speed internet and Starbucks.

Tents were erected all around the mobile command center. Brown canvas had been chosen out of pure habit, but they weren't really undercover here. Part of the plan was to make sure New Eden was aware of Leon's backup. If anything bad happened to agent Kennedy, New Eden and its parent company would be finished. They wouldn't even get the slow death umbrella suffered after the United States government issued an indefinite suspension of business.

Hunnigan put her computer back into her bag and walked over to welcome Leon.

"You ready to get going?" she asked, brushing some stray sand off of her black pencil skirt.

"As I'll ever be." Leon shrugged.

"Listen Leon, before you go, I know it's in your nature to be protective of people who seem weak or helpless. But once you're in there I want you to remember that your first priority is investigating for possible bio-terrorism threats. Not body guarding the experiments."

"Hunnigan…" Leon's eyes narrowed, his tone taking on a district note of warning.

Hunnigan huffed loudly, "look. I just don't want to have to write 'trusted a bioweapon who turned around and ripped his throat out' on your death report Kennedy."

"I can take care of myself. I've been doing this longer than you have, remember?" Leon replied.

"Yeah, but that was with a lot of dumb luck Leon. Eventually you're going to run out."

* * *

 

Sooner than he would have liked Leon was hustled back into the passenger seat of a two-seater jeep and taken around the perimeter of the New Eden compound to the front entrance.

A man at a security checkpoint looked over their ID a little too thoroughly before opening up the barricade and letting them drive up the dirt road to the facility proper.

The New Eden laboratory was a speck of glass and concrete hugging the New Mexico desert sand. Its walls curved up and over into a dome shape on both sides. Seemingly, to reduce the damage caused by the powerful winds, and any rocks or dust the wind might be carrying. It reminded Leon of a space station strait out of a 90's science fiction film.

His ride pulled up just in front of the main entrance. Leon dismounted taking his large backpack from its storage compartment behind his seat and slung it over his shoulder. He glanced around, noticing the lack of a parking lot or any other vehicles. Now that was strange, it was almost like they didn't want anyone leaving.

A woman in a tight purple blouse and brown dress pants met them at the door. Judging by her lack of a lab coat, Leon assumed she was a secretary of some sort. A few moments later his assumption was confirmed when she insisted that Leon's driver could not come inside.

"Sorry Mr. Kennedy, but there are many things in our labs that are biologically sensitive. Reducing the introduction of foreign elements is a top priority."

Leon would have liked to hear what her definition of foreign elements was, but now that he was firmly in New Eden's territory, it was best to start learning how to play by their rules. If only so he could break them more effectively when the moment came.

Leon followed the woman through the glass double doors and into the lobby. The room was rather small, but then they probably didn't get many visitors all the way out here. The walls were a mostly uniform white, while the floor had some kind of fake marble paneling in various shades of black and gray.

Hallways lead off from the lobby to the right and the left. Color coded signs were attached to the walls pointing the way to various locations in the compound. It was probably a crucial design element seeing how everything was decorated in the colorful palette of gray and more gray. According to them, this floor had a lounge, a cafeteria, various rooms numbered 1A through 22D, and a rec room.

"Is Dr. Jimnenez around? I kind of figured he would want to talk to me." Leon asked the secretary, who had gone back to sit behind the reception desk.

"The doctor has been unfortunately delayed." The secretary responded, not taking her eyes from her desktop computer screen. "One of the other experiments had a crucial development last night and he's been attending to it all day. We've arranged for you to have a tour of the facilities in the meantime. Dr. Wong has kindly volunteered to guide you. She should be here any moment now."

Dr. Wong? Leon felt a slight tingling sensation climb up his spine. His instincts acting up and making the hair on his arms stand on end. Surely that had to be a coincidence. Wong was a fairly common last name. Right?

The sound of clicking heels reached his ears, and Leon was distressed to realize he recognized her footsteps. Something about the calm but deliberate stride.

She was dressed in a lab coat, the new Eden apple logo embroidered on the lapel. With the coat unbuttoned you could see her bright scarlet dress shirt underneath and a pair of black pants that were tight enough to be leggings.

Ada's short dark-brown hair was held back by a headband, and her brown eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses rimmed in her signature red.

"Ah, it's so nice to meet you agent Kennedy. I'm doctor Ada Wong." Ada offered her hand to Leon, a very slight smile crossing her lips.

Leon took her hand, his eyes locked on Ada's. Trying to read her body language for any hint of what the hell was going on.

"The pleasure is all mine... Doctor Wong." Leon put a little too much emphasis on the word doctor. Earning him a slight eyebrow raise from Ada.

"Geneviève, could you have Leon's bags brought to his room for us?"

"Of course" the secretary replied, holding out a hand over her desk for the Leon's backpack.

Leon passed it over and followed Ada into the facility. Keeping close to her.

* * *

 

"There's one above ground and five underground. This first floor is mostly comprised of the living quarters for all the staff at the facility. Everyone lives on-site due to the risk of biological contamination and sensitivity of the projects being worked on." Ada continued, glancing over her shoulder as she walked to make sure Leon was paying attention.

"The second floor, or more accurately the first basement, is where the laboratories are located. The third is for the live specimen holding chambers and observation rooms. Then, finally, the fourth floor is cold storage."

Leon realized about halfway through Ada's speech that she wasn't giving him a tour, she was giving him a tactical overview of the building and all the important nerve centers.

"So, any questions?" she asked, pausing outside one of the doorways.

"Several." Leon deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest and fixing her with his best annoyed dad look.

The super spy grinned back at him, glancing up and down the hallway to make sure they were alone.

She slipped a key card from her pocket and taped it on the reader next to a door labelled 13C. The door clicked as the lock gave way. Ada pushed the door open with her shoulder.

"Please, come inside, and do take a seat."

Ada's room reminded Leon of a college dorm. The largest piece of furniture was the bed, sitting in the center of the room. Against the walls was a small desk and a sofa with a coffee table. The only other door in the room beside the front entrance led into a small bathroom.

There was a reasonable amount of clutter around. Makeup bottles crowded on the nightstand, and shirts hung off of an open dresser drawer. Ada had been living here for at least a month, likely three or four.

Leon sat down heavily on the couch, watching Ada closely as she kneeled down next to her desk and opened the mini-refrigerator underneath. She pulled out two cans and tossed one of them underhanded to Leon. The DSO agent caught it and scanned the label.

"Ice tea? I was kind of hoping for a beer."

Ada sat down next to him, cracking open her can and taking a sip from it before replying.

"We don't have all day Leon. So why don't you cut the adorable quips for now."

Adorable? Really? Leon scowled and put the can of tea down on the table.

"Well, if you're in the mood for talking, you could start by telling me why you're here."

Ada waved a finger at him and clicked her tongue. "I just said we don't have a lot of time. How about you ask a question you think I might actually answer."

Leon sighed in frustration. Biting down on his lip as he racked his brain. Ada wouldn't ever reveal her motive or her employers, but she had been willing to share less sensitive details with him in the past.

"Are you here because of me, or is this all just a bizarre coincidence?"

"A coincidence, but I would hardly call it bizarre. Huge developments in bio-technology tend to draw out the usual suspects." Ada shrugged, leaning back and resting her feet on the coffee table. "I never would have picked you for a spy Leon. You're a little... conspicuous..."

The DSO agent grunted. "Yeah, thanks. It wasn't my idea to come here, trust me."

Ada's eyebrows lifted, her curiosity peaked. "Gossip in the labs says you managed to make Leslie fall in love with you."

Leon's back straightened. "You're kidding, right? All I did was treat him like a normal human being."

"Oh, sensitive topic?" Ada purred. "Even a little kindness can be enough to gain a lifetime of devotion. Especially when given to someone who's not used to receiving it. Remind me to tell you the story about the idiot who took a bullet for me, and how I'm still watching his back to repay him for it."

Leon couldn't stop himself from smiling at that. "If we counted who's saved who more times we'd be here all day. It's a mutual agreement at this point."

"True…" Ada took another sip. "Let me give you a little advice. There are many powerful players who have a stake in this chess game. I know how you think Leon, and you're humble enough to truly believe you're a pawn in this. But the truth is, you're a king. Limited move choices, but vital if anyone is going to win."

Leon rolled his eyes at her, appearing physically pained by her coyness. "Chess metaphors, really? Next, you'll be asking me 'how is a raven like a writing desk'"

Ada snorted, almost choking on her tea. "Well, you do have a talent for falling into rabbit holes."

A soft vibrating hum came from somewhere around Ada's hip, she put a hand to her belt and pulled out a tiny pager from its carry case on her hip. She glanced down at the screen, then back up to Leon.

"What a coincidence, it seems you're late." She put down her tea and stood up, offering a hand to Leon to help him do the same.

"Even though it's rather obvious, I'm going to remind you that we've never met before today. Right agent Kennedy?"

"I don't even remember your name. Doctor Lang, was it?"

Ada only gave him a half smile for that joke.

* * *

 

Now that the Ada mystery had been solved, or more accurately, been carefully ignored. Leon's was able to focus on Leslie again. Ada's presence could mean only one thing, something was deeply wrong at New Eden. You didn't break out the best to steal anything less than world changing secrets.

But is that was the game being played here Leon wanted no part of it. Leslie deserved a lot better than being a tool for powerful corporations to use in their endless battle for money and power.

Before he had even set foot into the laboratory Leon had resolved to find some way to get Leslie out. He just needed proof of some illegal activity or bio-terrorism enabling research. Anything that would allow the DSO to confiscate New Eden's bio-organic experiments.

As Ada had mentioned in her tour, the live specimen holding chambers were in the second basement, though the buttons on the elevator marked the floor as '3'.

The hallways on this floor were surprisingly narrow; the space wasn't even wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The doors into the rooms were at odd places and it soon dawned on Leon that every room had exactly one other room sharing a wall with it.

If there was any doubt to why that was the case, it became unmistakably clear when they passed the first of the one-way windows. Leon had seen his fair share of them in the past and recognized the slightly shiny finish on sight.

Of course, this whole place was built like a fishbowl. God knows, talking to Leslie wouldn't be half as effective as watching him at all hours and judging him from behind a think wall of glass.

Leon's fingers clenched into fists. Ada shot him a sideways glance, but didn't voice her question. She had a pretty good idea about what was upsetting him without having to.

The hallways twisted and looped back on one another, making it easy to get lost if you weren't paying attention. Ada seemed to know her way though, and soon she was knocking on one of the large metal doors. She swiped her key card and waited as the two halves of the door parted with the click of some unseen machinery.

Leon had hardly taken two steps into the room when someone cried out.

"Leslie, stop!"

Ada took a step back, just managing to get out of the way of a fast moving white blur. Leon was tackled bodily. The wind knocked out of his lungs as something warm and soft nuzzled into the front of his shirt.

"Jesus, you hit hard for someone your size." Leon chuckled, wrapping his arms around Leslie's back. The albino was just about as tall as Leon's shoulder so the hug was mostly around Leslie's shoulders while the younger man clutched at his middle.

The room he had just walked into seemed like a doctor's exam room. There was a padded table to sit or lie on, and an equally padded chair with armrests. Disturbingly, both had leather bindings at just the right distance to allow a 5'2 tall human to be strapped into place by his hands and feet.

Counting Ada there were about four people in lab coats in the room. Leon only really recognized Dr. Jimnenez, who was looking just as much like a rat covered in axle grease as he always had.

Leon gently pushed on Leslie's shoulder, stooping down a bit so he could look Leslie in the eyes.

"Hey, I missed you too buddy. Are you alright?"

Leslie looked just the same as he had a week ago, but then that was half the problem. No matter what anyone did to Leslie he wouldn't get bruised or gain any scars. At least not on the outside.

Leon looked down and noticed that Leslie's hands were encased in fingerless padded mitts. Like boxing gloves, but tied tightly to the wrists. Leon tasted bile in the back of his throat, a surge of white hot anger welling up inside him.

He didn't even pass comment as he reached to undo them. A ginger haired woman in a lab coat standing next to Dr. Jimnenez spoke up.

"Mister Kennedy please don't remove those, the specimen can be dangerous-"

The look Leon shot her made the lab tec take three steps back, not even finishing the sentence. Leon thoroughly ignored everyone else and finished untying the knots.

When Leslie's hands came free Leon held them gently in both of his. Leslie's fingers were far too warm and the DSO agent had to wonder how long he had been made to wear those things. To Leon's surprise Leslie took back his hands, but a moment later the albino was threading his fingers into Leon's dirty blond hair.

A choked sob racked Leslie's slender frame and he broke into tears. His legs gave out and Leon stooped to catch him.

They ended up on the floor, Leon on his knees with a balling Leslie clutched close to his chest. Still ignoring the doctors with all his might, Leon pulled Leslie gently towards the nearest wall. He braced his back against it and pulled Leslie into his lap. He ran one hand carefully down the genetic experiment's back, repeating the motion over and over as he waited for Leslie to tire himself out.

* * *

 

Twenty minutes later, Leon had found his way into what was hopefully a perfectly normal, non-restraining, sofa. Leslie had fallen asleep against his chest and hadn't awakened again when Leon carried him out of the examination room.

"It's truly remarkable isn't it?" Dr. Jimnenez asked, from his chair directly opposite from Leon and Leslie. The room they had been brought to looked enough like a living room to seem half comfortable, at least if you ignored the extremely obvious one-way mirrors mounted on all four of the walls.

"What is?" Leon, prompted. Even though he knew he wouldn't like the answer.

"The genetic master-slave bond, of course. I've read the reports and studies of how infected can control one another, but I've not seen it in person until today."

Leon scoffed, "No offense doc, but your theory has a few holes. Number one, I'm not infected. Number two, I don't have any control over Leslie. And thirdly, that trait is unique to the Plaga parasite not the progenitor virus. "

Dr. Jimnenez steepled his fingers, nodding in agreement with each of Leon's points. "You are correct on all accounts agent Kennedy. Perhaps I misspoke when I called it control, but you have to admit, Leslie's obsession with you is a little unusual."

"I'd like to see an impartial psychologist weigh in on that."

Dr. Jimnenez shrugged, neither agreeing with nor arguing the point.

"You see agent Kennedy, when we created Leslie one of our goals was to have him genetically bonded to a human host. In the unlikely event that we couldn't teach him proper human morality, we needed a backup to make sure he dedicated his talents to serving the greater good. Until now, we thought that our attempts had failed."

Leon bristled, showing a bit of teeth as his anger reared up again. "Wonderful, I'm so glad you mentioned all of this to the DSO a week ago, and didn't just decide to spring it on me once I got here!"

"Even the best security can always have leaks agent Kennedy. Information like that can't just be given out over the internet."

"Right…"

If there was one thing Leon hated, it was being jerked around by self-righteous twats. Time to remind the doctor who exactly he was dealing with.

"The amount of patience I have for bullshit right now could fit in a thimble. If you're hiding anything else about why you brought me here, I'm going to have no choice but to confiscate Leslie until the DSO can officially verify a threat level. Could be months, more likely years. Maybe two."

The albino stirred a in his sleep, possibly recognizing his name. Leon ran his hand over the younger man's back, trying to soothe him back to sleep.

"Please relax agent Kennedy, the terms of our agreement have not changed. I've just given you more context. The goal is to find out how or why Leslie formed a bond with you, and hopefully reverse the process." Dr. Jimnenez glanced from Leslie to Leon pointedly, then added, "like it or not, reversing this is in your interests as well as our own. For we believe that an existing bond might be damaging to you psychologically."

"And what makes you figure that?"

Dr. Jimnenez's eyebrows knitted together. Giving Leon a scornful stare that spoke volumes about what he thought of a 34 year old DSO agent allowing a Progenitor virus experiment to cuddle up on his lap.

"Just a hunch agent Kennedy, just a hunch."

* * *

 

Leslie slept right through to dinner time, and even then, Leon only agreed to wake the young man after he had been told that Leslie had refused to eat for most of the week they had been separated.

Adjacent to the living room there was a kitchen with a small dining table that Leslie obediently sat down at.

Leslie's 'holding chambers' reminded Leon a lot of the show floor at IKEA. A tableau of tasteful but conservative furniture laid over a large flat area that almost looked like someone might live in it.

But everything was a bit too perfect. The carpet matched the sofa a bit too well, and the rooms were disjointed just enough that it was impossible not to remember this was a fabricated environment.

The kitchen in particular came straight out of classic American iconography. The tablecloth was a gold and red patchwork, and the fridge was covered in colorful letter magnets. But the paper thin illusion was broken the second you noticed the missing stove, empty cupboards, and pristine unused countertops.

Leon sat next to Leslie, bracing his elbows against the table. One of the female lab tecs had been sent to fetch dinner for them. Leon could have eaten in the cafeteria, but he has turned that notion down the moment someone mentioned that Leslie couldn't go with him.

Still, waiting to be served in a disused 80's sitcom set was rather humiliating. Leslie didn't seem to mind, though, he was leaning back in his chair gently kicking his legs back and forth. Even with the dramatic upswing in mood that Leon's presence had caused, it was still nearly impossible to keep Leslie totally calm.

A woman in a lab coat, the same who had failed to stop Leon from undoing Leslie's cuffs earlier swept into the room with two metal trays. Leon's jaw dropped as he noticed that Leslie's dinner seemed to consist of a large slab of mostly raw meat. His glare settled on the redhead. Seemingly expecting that reaction, she didn't skip a beat before responding.

"Leslie's diet is consistent with progenitor virus based organisms. He is not human, Mr. Kennedy, and there is simply not enough iron and protein in the average human diet."

"Bullshit, I shared a pizza with him in New York and he seemed perfectly happy."

"Yes, and since you upset his diet, Leslie hasn't been eating properly since then."

"Probably because he knows what actual food tastes like now?" Leon scoffed

Leslie was looking at the floor, his hands squeezing one another tight enough to hurt. He hated yelling. Even if the yelling had nothing to do with him, he still felt responsible somehow. The doctor said something loud and angry to Leon and Leon responded in a low tone, bristling with frustration. Leslie clamped his hands down over his ears, letting out a whine of fear that made both the doctor and the agent stop mid argument.

"Shit... I'm sorry Leslie." Leon bit his lip, reaching out to run a firm hand over the younger man's shoulders.

After a few moments he turned back to the woman.

"How about a compromise. You get someone to cook that and bring a bottle of barbeque sauce. Something sweet I think."

"And, if I do, you'll encourage him to eat?" the redhead asked, planting her hands on her hips.

"I'll do my best"

* * *

 

From a fair distance away and two floors deeper into the rugged new Mexico bedrock two bleached white pupils watched the display.

"Disgusting..." he growled, turning away from the camera feed and pacing further into the room.

Dr. Jimnenez didn't even spare his colleague a glance up from his notebook. "Now, now, ruvik. We are learning important information here. We are all upset the first attempt at creating a genetic bond failed. But jealousy is not going to help us come any closer to solving the problem."

Ruvik tensed, his lips curling into a sneer. "I'm not jealous. Watching those two is making me sick to my stomach. That blond agent pretending like he cares about anything but stealing our research."

"We haven't fully ascertained what exactly Leon's motives are. He could just be remarkably stupid." Dr. Jimnenez reminded him.

"Leslie is mine." Ruvik hissed. "He has a bit of her DNA in him, even though he hardly shows it. Every bit of her belongs to me."

"As we agreed old friend, Leon may bark all he wants, but he won't succeed in taking away our project. The US government always bends to the corporate interest in the end. It's an old tradition."

* * *

 

After Leon had finished introducing Leslie to the piece of heaven that was a perfectly cooked stake, they're ever-hovering babysitter suggested the two of them go 'play' together in Leslie's room.

Leon was hardly eager to see more of this dollhouse, but Leslie seemed keen enough, so he adapted.

When the metal doors opened Leon was left blinking into the pastel painted bedroom. Every inch of the floor was covered in various pieces of multicolored plastic. Most of the objects seemed to be from various sets of building toys. Plastic straws that connected with tiny nubs in the shape of an X, wooden blocks, Lincoln logs and magnetic connectors.

Leon took a careful step in, watching as Leslie sank to the floor next to a huge castle made of Lego. The brinks has been meticulously organized and the building itself was completely symmetrical. It must have taken ages to build from scratch, but judging by the amount of toys and how much they seemed to be used, Leslie had likely spent most of his life in this room.

Leon settled down on the floor. Picking up a handful of red blocks from the floor and carefully adding them to the roof of one of the castle turrets. Leslie watched him, presumably to make sure he did a proper job.

"This is really impressive Leslie." Leon observed, gently clicking the last of his handful into place.

Leslie nodded, reaching out to take Leon's hand and pulling him away from the castle. Leon followed on hands and knees until Leslies stopped him again. The younger man pulled a large loop made of magnets from one of the toy boxes. The short connecter pieces were set in a pattern that looked vaguely like flowers and when Leslie slipped it over Leon's head the DSO agent realized it was meant to be a flower garland, albeit a mostly metal flower garland.

Leon lifted the bottom bit and examined the pattern.

"Leslie this is-"

Before he could finish something hard and round was pushed into his hands. Leon looked down at the medium sized plastic ball. It was clear on all sides and inside was a Rube Goldberg machine's worth of moving plastic pieces, leavers, and switches.

Leslie pushed down on one side of the ball and it made a little 'tink' sound. Inside the larger ball was a tiny metal ball that ran along a plastic track before falling off and into another part of the plastic chaos.

Leon realized that this was one of those puzzles where you had to get the small metal ball into a hole at the end. Only this one required the user to tilt it in three dimensional space to succeed.

Leslie sat back, looking at Leon expectedly. Waiting for the DSO agent to give it a try. Leon shrugged and twirled the puzzle until the metal ball was sitting in the starting position. The first challenge was to get the ball across a narrow runway, tilting it too far in either direction would cause the ball to fall off and get lost within the puzzle.

Holding it as steady as he could Leon altered the position of the puzzle ever so slightly, the ball started moving slowly at first, but quickly picked up speed and careened off of the runway. Leon frowned and reset the puzzle, but even after six more tries, he couldn't get it past that first bit.

Leslie smiled ever so slightly as he watched Leon fiddle with it. The DSO agent was getting ever more annoyed with each failure. After a few more unsuccessful attempts Leslie made a little hand gesture that Leon interpreted as 'here, let me show you how it's done.'

Obediently the DSO agent handed the puzzle over. Watching carefully as Leslie reset the ball. Leslie braced himself on the floor, crossing his legs to get the best possible balance before beginning.

Leon soon discovered that solving the ball puzzle required a player to turn the whole thing over no less than four times. All while keeping the smaller ball from tipping off one of the edges.

The puzzle made a satisfying 'cla-clink' sound when it finally fell into the little hole in the very center. Looking prouder than a peacock mid-mating season, Leslie handed the ball back to Leon.

Leon glanced down at it and shook his head.

"Well fuck me running, you're full of surprises." He put the ball down and pulled Leslie into his arms squeezing the younger man tightly. "I think now it's time I showed you something though."

He pulled Leslie up with him and found a part of the room that was a little less covered in random multicolored objects. If Leslie was coordinated enough to handle rolling a tiny ball across a centimeter wide track, he could sure as hell learn how to throw a punch properly.

"You'll need to stand with your legs apart. Just about as wide as your shoulders. Don't forget to bend your knees."

Leslie looked completely baffled, but didn't seem to object to Leon gently nudging him into a loose fighting stance. Leon gently gripped Leslie's midsection, adjusting the younger balance so he was putting his weight on the balls of his feet and the heel of his right foot was slightly raised from the carpet.

Leslie felt suddenly hot all over, he could feel Leon's gentle breathing on the back of his neck. The DSO's agent's grip changed from Leslie's middle to his hips, Leon's thumb curving into Leslie's hipbone. A strange fluttery feeling settled into the pit of Leslie's tummy, his heart rate jumping up a few notches.

"You'll want to tense your chest and abdomen. If you're not ready for it, a body shot can take you down easier than you think." Leon reached over and prodded Leslie just under his belly button. The albino tensed, unused to being touched so gently. "Yeah, just like that" Leon hummed, taking hold Leslie's wrists and pulling them up so the younger man's fists were at eye level.

"Never put your thumb on the inside of your fist. That's always the biggest mistake rookies make." Leon carefully rearranged Leslie's fingers into the right position before continuing. "Aim for about two inches further than you think you're going to need, it will help with your power, and never ever let your hands drop in a fight."

Leon scanned the room looking for something he could use as a punching bag. There were a few pillows on Leslie's single bed.

"Practice holding that stance for a second. I'll be right back."

When Leon approached the bed, he noticed some thick leather straps fastened to the metal frame. Leon had to grudgingly repress the urge to find and throttle the nearest next new Eden staff member as he untied the bindings.

They were just what he needed to properly brace the cushion against his arm though. It almost looked like a proper training pad. Leslie was watching him curiously, but kept holding the fighting stance like Leon had told him to.

Leon made his way back over and took up a defensive stance of his own, bracing his feet against the carpet.

"Okay, now I want you to try and hit me. Don't pull back before the punch. Just move your elbow up and lash out. Try to yell as you do it too, it helps keep time and gets the adrenaline pumping."

Leon lifted the arm with the pillow. Leslie hesitated for a long ten seconds before he gingerly shifted his weight and lightly tapped the pillow with the knuckles of his right hand.

"Good form Leslie, but it won't mean squat if you don't have any power. Go ahead, I promise you won't hurt me."

Leslie took a deep breath. He didn't want to disappoint Leon but he really didn't feel like he could do this. He didn't like anger, it made people loud and scary. It even happened to him sometimes. Like when the doctors had taken him away from Leon. He'd gotten so angry he couldn't control himself. His blood had turned to lava and everything had gone red. A horrible blood red that leaked from the walls and pooled around his feet.

"Leslie?"

Thinking about his night in New York had tensed Leslie up considerably, and at Leon's question the albino struck out instinctively. He hit his target just like before, but this time with enough force to cause Leon's arm to collide with his chest. The DSO agent let of a gasp of surprise, but it was quickly followed by a smile that spread from ear to ear.

"Yes, much better! Do it again!"

Leslie hesitated again, but Leon's praise had caught him before the wave of fear and regret had time to start. He wanted to make Leon happy, so he lashed out again. This time the DSO agent was prepared and caught the punch easily with the cushion.

"Make some noise just before you make contact, and try to get into a pattern alternating fists."

Leslie let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a grunt, once for every time he struck out. Leon altered his stance slightly to better disperse the momentum from each impact.

Leon counted thirty punches before he reached out with his hand and caught one of Leslie's fists midair. Leslie growled again, and Leon gently squeezed the younger's hand. All the tension left Leslie's shoulders and he dropped out of his stance.

For a brief moment Leslie had thought he's lost control again, but the slip had been momentary enough not to backfire.

"Perfect. I think you're ready to move onto a little defense now. I'll try to hit you and I want you to try and block me with your forearms." Leon let go of Leslie's hand and started to undo the pillow bindings on his wrist.

"D-Don't want to... Don't want to, don't want to, don't want to, don't-" Leslie cut himself off by biting down on his tongue. He had to say something, but every time he tried he got nervous and stuck on words.

Leon blinked at him, throwing the makeshift padding onto the floor and coming over to Leslie. He rested both his hands on the younger man's shoulders and leaned forward so they could see eye to eye.

"It's alright, I told you that you wouldn't hurt me, and you didn't." Leon murmured. Leslie was blinking rapidly, on the brink of tears again.

"I wouldn't make you do anything if it wasn't really important. I don't want anyone to be able to hurt you again. But, I might not always be there to protect you."

Leslie shook his head. He didn't like getting hurt, but he couldn't just hit back... could he? He wasn't strong enough.

As if reading his mind, Leon added.

"You've got a ton of potential, and you can trust me on that, I've trained lots of agents. You almost knocked me over when I wasn't paying attention."

Despite everything, Leslie believed him. It was either that or assume his best friend was lying to him. And that was an even more terrifying prospect than the thought of losing control.

"Come on, let me show you how to block and then we'll see how you feel." Leon's smile was back as he straightened up, taking the albino's wrists again.

"You'll want to try to deflect an attack with the front side of your-"

* * *

 

Leon was surprised that he managed to get an hour with Leslie before one of the new Eden lab techs came in to break the two of them up. No doubt teaching they're lap rat how to bite would ruffle a few feathers, though no one would tell Leon to his face why teaching Leslie self-defence was not recommended. He would have preferred it if one of them had the balls to say 'we want him to be easy to control' but he had just been given the usual run about instead. Agitating the subject, causing an excessive amount of stress, behavior therapy results skewed. Lots of paper thin excuses.

Leon had actually been in the room with Leslie and he had noticed an uncanny amount of calm that had settled over him while practicing. The constant twitching had ceased, probably because he had something constructive to channel all that energy into.

He had noticed one strange thing though, when Leslie was focusing his pretty blue eyes took on a distinct crimson tinge. Possibly a side effect of tapping into the enhanced strength side-effect of the progenitor virus. Red eyes were usually a good indication that someone was infected beyond saving, but the change exhibited in Leslie didn't seem to cause a sudden hunger for human flesh. So it likely wasn't worth worrying about.

After being separated from Leslie. Leon had wandered around the lab, checking for open doors and hidden cameras, as well as taking any opportunity to pester someone into spilling some information or even better, letting him visit Leslie again.

He managed to find a fire escape with doors that only locked from the inside. Getting to the ground floor was possible, but he couldn't use it to get further into the labs.

After that he had 'accidently' bumped into one of the lab tecs. She had her hair up in a messy bun and what looked like a mustard stain on her lapel. Leon had managed to borrow her key card when they had collided and with any luck, she was scatterbrained enough to think she'd lost it.

Then to round off his night of being a rather effective, (if he did say so himself) super spy, he had his nightly call with Hunnigan.

His room was located on the same floor as Leslie's and had rather obviously been converted from an office space for the occasion. Leon found his luggage on the bed and did a quick check to see if they had been searched.

When packing his bag he had placed a short length of tape on the inside zipper. He checked it, and sure enough the tape had been broken along the middle and some was still tangled up in the zipper.

Most of his gadgets had made it through alright though. Not the cell phone gun, but that was a longshot and Leon had been hoping he wouldn't have to be caught using something that silly.

He found his communication device, it was a lot heavier than usual since they couldn't rely on commercial cell phone reception to reach far underground in an unpopulated area. He sat cross legged on the floor with his com unit in his lap and carefully dallied in the correct frequency.

It had felt like days since Leon had last seen Hunnigan but when he got right into it his report actually ended up being rather sparse. The most important detail was the bit about Dr. Jimnenez's suspicions of a plaga-like bond between Leslie and him. Naturally, that went over about as well as a lead balloon, especially when Hunnigan could remind him that this was exactly what she had been worried about.

She almost pulled the plug on the whole thing then and there, but she eventually took Leon's reassurance that seriously, he was perfectly fine and not infected.

Once that trial was over Leon glanced down at his watch. They had decided on midnight for the rendezvous call, and at the moment tomorrow was only fifteen minutes away. Leon sighed, nothing for it but to get ready for bed. He would probably need all his strength for whatever tomorrow had to throw at him.

* * *

 

Leon rolled over, fingers grasping blindly for his phone. The glowing display flicked on by a stroke of his thumb, revealing the time to be 3:45 am. He groaned and shifted onto his back, letting the phone rest on his bare chest.

He really should have expected this, between worrying about Leslie and the unfamiliar surroundings pressing down around him, he was only able to get about twenty minutes of sleep on average before waking again.

The more he thought about it the more Leon felt a little guilty for letting the new Eden scientists separate them. He didn't have much choice in the matter though. Like it or not, when he was in their facility he was almost as trapped as Leslie. He had the sword of the DSO on his side, but calling them in would have serious consequences. It was rather like bringing a nuke to a knife fight. Impressive, but practically useless tactically.

Then there was Ada, and her usual cloud of mystery. If Leon had to guess what she was after, he would wager his money on a live specimen. Stealing research data could be valuable, but a single gram of organic tissue could hold several hundred terabytes of information.

She couldn't be after Leslie though. If anyone had wanted to kidnap him, they wouldn't have missed the huge chance offered by moving him across half the country. That and Ada usually liked her booty to fit in a handbag.

A crash that sounded like something organic slamming into something hard and metal snapped Leon out of his thoughts. He clicked on the flashlight function on his phone. The flash bulbs light was bright but wasn't focused like a flashlight would be. But he couldn't spare a moment to dig a proper flashlight out of his bag.

Leon stalked to his door, pressing the switch that would open the automatic release. He cautiously shifted his position so most of his body was still in cover, but he could still peer out into the dark hallway beyond.

A bone chilling scream echoed from the east hallway. Leon instantly heard Leslie's voice behind it.

Anger and fear jumped on him at mach 10. Throwing caution to the wind, Leon threw himself out of his room. Landing in a rolling crouch on the floor.

"Leslie!" he screamed, hoping his voice would give the albino his location.

He sprinted off in the direction of the scream, but he hardly got two steps before something fast moving slammed into his chest knocking him to the floor.

Panting echoed in his ear, Leon wrapped his arms around the human projectile and sure enough the body type matched his albino friend. Leon felt something hot and wet on his fingers as he pulled Leslie close. The scent of copper clued him into what that was.

Leon pushed himself up, forcing Leslie off him just enough so he could get back into his defensive crouch. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wound on Leslie's back. It was slowly healing, but the deep claw marks were clearly visible. The wounds were over an inch wide and stretched from his shoulder to his hip.

"Fuck… fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Leon pulled up his phone and pointed the flashbulb in the direction Leslie had come from. The light was extremely ineffective at a distance, but there was definitely something moving towards them. A lumbering figure clouded in a sea of tiny red… what the fuck were they?

The thing flickered out of view, then seconds later reappeared a few inches away. Like it was slipping in and out of the visible spectrum. The red things seethed like a swarm of insects. Orbiting around something dense in the center.

Leon physically picked up Leslie, standing up while keeping his eyes firmly on the slowly advancing enemy. He took a few steps back, ignoring the whines of fear from the younger man in his arms.

A quick glance sideways confirmed that he had managed to line up with his still open bedroom door. In a single movement, Leon threw himself through it, taking the impact when they inevitably slammed into the ground with his shoulder.

He dropped the albino on the floor, regretfully ignoring the younger's cry of protest, and slammed the close door button on his side. Every one of the New Eden doors on the specimen storage floor had an emergency lock on both sides. To prevent escape attempts most likely.

Leon scanned the room for something he could use as a weapon. There was a desk pushed in the corner, likely left over from the cleared office space. He propped up Leslie against the bed. The albino tried to cling to him, but Leon slipped out of his grip.

The DSO agent partially ripped the drawer out of the desk, it was unlikely he would find anything of use but-

His fingers close around the back of a 9mm handgun. He blinked at it in shock. Why the hell would someone leave a gun in an unlocked drawer? This was way too lucky.

Then he saw the note tucked under it. A white piece of paper with a red lipstick print.

"Ada…" he breathed. She was three steps ahead of him, like always.

He returned to Leslie's side and tugged the younger man into a protective one-armed hug. His right hand held the pistol at the ready, but he hadn't yet heard anything to indicate they were about to be attacked. It was possible that whatever that thing was, it realized that it couldn't chase Leslie through the solid steel door.

Leslie was murmuring something under his breath and Leon managed to catch the odd word. Bad, no, stop, hurt, and what sounded like a name. Lorna? Leanna? Lauren?

"Leslie…" Leon breathed, his eyes still fixed on that door. "Who attacked you? Do you know their name?"

"Ruvik Who attacked you. Ruvik who attacked you. Ru-!" Leslie stammered, his endless chain of repeats getting cut off when the DSO agent squeezed him tightly.

"Ruvik?" Leon hummed under his breath. He would need to ask Hunnigan to run that name for him. It sounded like an alias though, so legal records might turn up empty. Maybe he would be able to get more out of Leslie when he calmed down?

Leon sat, his nerves on high alert. His mind working a mile a second as he tried to figure out his course of action.

One thing was for sure though, he and Leslie would not be spending another night here.


	4. The Apple In Pandora's Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie is out of his gilded cage, and there won't be a better moment for Leon to put his escape plan into action. Breaking out can't be that hard, in fact, it’s almost too easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And at last, we come to the pre-climax crisis point. Readers will kindly note that I've bumped up this story’s rating for this chapter. There’s going to be some blood in it, nothing worse than in the source material but enough to deserve an M and an archive warning.

Leon sighed deeply and set his communicator unit down. Leslie was curled up on the floor beside him, looking more than a little tired. Leon would have liked to tell him to curl up and take a nap, but they couldn't afford the time.

Something was blocking him from sending out a distress call. Not an unusual situation for him, unfortunately. It seemed everyone and their dog had the technology to block whatever tin-can system the DSO rigged up for his vital missions.

There was still the safety trigger, but Leon would be properly dammed if he waited all day for someone to rescue him while help was sitting a few miles away. He could bust out of this tin can easily enough, the only trick was to not get spotted and to get a decent head start.

Leon had changed out of his pajamas and into a pair of navy blue cargo pants and a black T-shirt. Leslie's white jumpsuit was thoroughly torn by whatever had attacked him, so he was wearing Leon's loose fitting leather jacket and another pair of rolled up jeans.

On the whole, they didn't quite pull off the infiltration team look, but it was the best that could be done on short notice. Leon had even found a hat to cover Leslie's ivory hair. With any luck the scientists would be so used to seeing Leslie dressed in white that they wouldn't recognize him in anything else.

Leon checked the time on his phone; it was ten minutes till 5 in the morning. If they stayed any longer they would risk losing the night-time advantage.

Leslie protested with a little whine as Leon shook him out of his half sleep, but he was quickly placated once he realized the older man meant to carry him on his back. Leslie wrapped his arms obligingly around Leon's neck and shifted himself into a comfortable position. His Legs wrapped around Leon's hips. Once they were upright, Leon discovered that Leslie was more than capable of holding himself in place on his back. Leon tucked one arm under Leslie's leg just to make sure though. He only needed his right hand to hold his weapon anyway.

Leon started by taking a cursory glance out into the hallway. The bloody insect monster was long gone, but more interestingly, it seemed that the cameras in the hallway hadn't survived the attack. Apparently whatever that thing was, it didn't want a record of what had happened.

That did call into question why no one had reacted to the event though. There had to be security officials manning those things. Why hadn't they come running? Surely they cared enough about Leslie as an experiment to not want him eviscerated without the proper equipment on hand.

Leon shook his head, none of that mattered right now. He wasn't going to look a gift Bio-weapon in the mouth. Leslie was out of his cell because of it, and he had the proof he came for. All he needed now was a distraction to cover the escape.

Leon had wrapped one of the sheets from his bed around the wooden desk. Thankfully, whoever had originally acquired it had been someone important enough to get a proper hardwood desk instead of particle board that was mostly just sawdust held together with plastics and glue.

In Leon's case, he would be appreciating the desk more for its flammability than the quality of the craftsmanship.

Leon rested his weapon down for a moment and fished his lighter out of his pocket. He had quit smoking after the raccoon city disaster, but since then he had found that having a ready source of fire was always a good thing.

He clicked it on, feeling the radiating heat of the small flame on his fingertips. Leslie whined and buried his face in Leon's neck.

The little note Ada had left him had been carefully crumpled up next to one corner of the sheet; a little extra kindling to help speed things along. Leon lit the paper from one end and stepped back. Watching as the fire ate through the note, then hopped to the fabric.

Leslie let out another distressed squeak, but Leon was already moving away from the growing fire. He scooped up his pistol and headed back into the hallway. He remembered enough from his wandering last night to be able to find the fire escape with relative ease. Leon gradually quickened his pace so as to not accidently jostle Leslie off his back. With any luck, he would be able to reach the stairwell before-

The wailing of the fire alarm cut through Leon's train of thought like a knife through water. Leslie clung hard against his neck, crying out from the sudden auditory assault. Leon shushed him and broke into a full-tilt run towards the end of the hallway.

He kicked open the fire escape door and took the stairs two at a time. It was a tortuously slow climb up from the second basement. The floors were not evenly spaced out like in a conventional office building. The first basement in particular seemed to have extra high ceilings; possibly for fume hoods or large machinery.

To his credit, Leslie was doing a good job of keeping quiet. Leon could feel the stress building in the grip on his shoulders, but Leslie seemed to be holding his fear in check for now.

They finally reached the top of the stairs and Leon came to a sudden halt. His chest burned like a son of a bitch, but he wasn't stopping to catch his breath.

Leon carefully nudged open the door with the hand holding the pistol, leaning close so he could look out into the New Eden Eugenics lobby.

A small gaggle of scientists were standing around awkwardly near the front doors. Most dressed in pajamas and other night clothes that offered varying levels of dignity. Two men carrying weapons and clad in apple-logoed covered tactical armor were standing near the door. Leon cursed out loud and let the door fall shut again.

"Leslie. Can you do that thing you did in New York; The one where you make yourself invisible?"

"Invisible... invisible, invisible, invisible, invisible..." Leslie murmured the word over and over to himself for a moment, before quieting and closing his eyes. He had never tried to use his powers before. Usually, they came naturally when something bad or scary happened.

Leslie dug down in his mind, trying to use the situation, the loudness, and the fear to tap into his reactions. Leon watched over his shoulder as the albino man's outline seemed to flicker and fade out of view.

He could still feel the weight on his back, but to the naked eye there was nothing there anymore. If he squinted, he could see a shimmer where the light seemed to bend abnormally, but it was too small to notice unless you were looking for it.

"Perfect." Leon said through his panting. Gathering himself together, he tried to adjust his posture so that he didn't look hunched over under the invisible weight. Below on the stairs, he heard footsteps rapidly approaching. It was now or never.

Leon pushed open the door, holding his head down as he stepped out into the lobby. No one paid any attention to him. They were too busy gathering in small groups; discussing what might have required everyone to be forced out of bed so early in the morning.

Leon knew from experience that the best disguise was pretending you were supposed to be there. So, with an air of official business, mixed with more than a little annoyance, Leon stalked off in the opposite direction from the lobby.

He passed a few groups of strangers, most of them blurry eyed and grumpy. One or two eyebrows were raised at him for walking in the wrong direction, but no one recognized him and he looked like he knew what he was doing, so no thoughts were spoken aloud about the issue.

Leon followed the directions on the walls to the cafeteria. The stolen pass-key was still in his pocket, so he pressed the top of his thigh against the reader and crossed his fingers.

The red indicator light on the card reader turned green and the door unlocked. With a sigh of relief Leon slipped through the door and closed it behind him.

The lights were off in the eating area. Long white tables sat in rows, looking undeniably eerie when not in use.

On the far side of the room was the serving area, and beyond it the kitchen. The sounds of movement and the bright lights under the adjoining door, meant that the kitchen staff had started work early enough to have been disturbed by Leon's not so false fire alarm.

Leon started walking towards the kitchen slowly, so that his footsteps didn't echo. Keeping his eyes open for any sign of movement from the other end of the room.

He passed the last row of tables, then the piles of clean plates waiting for breakfast to be served on them. He reached the serving counter and leaned forward so he could peer into the kitchen. Only one of the cooks was still present, he had his back to Leon and was leaning over a chopping board. The sound of the knife hitting the board gave off a distinctive aura of annoyance.

Leon noted the graying hair and wrinkled complexion. His agent's brain profiled the stranger as a stubborn old man, loath to be put off his schedule by a fire on the other side of the facilities. Someone like that would probably also be the type to object to a random stranger and his invisible friend booking it through his kitchen.

Gripping his pistol tightly in one hand Leon, kicked open the kitchen door. It was the kind mounted on a reflexive hinge so he had to hustle through it to avoid getting smacked across the face.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Leon didn't respond to the cook, he scanned the kitchen looking for an exit. It was possible that New Eden got their supplies airlifted in, but they probably didn't get their garbage airlifted out. There had to be a back door someplace.

The elderly man moved as if to intercept Leon. The DSO agent whipped around, pointing his gun at the cook. The safety was still on, but the chef didn't know that.

He stopped dead in his tracks, lifting both hands, including the one still clutching the carving knife.

"I don't suppose you could point me towards the back door?" Leon asked, keeping his tone as cool as if he were only asking for directions to the bathroom.

The cook pointed over his shoulder, and the glowing red exit sign above the door reinforced the point.

Keeping his eyes and weapon on the chef, Leon backed towards the door. When he was only a few feet away, he turned and sprinted towards it. In that same moment, the chef, possibly running on pure spite, chucked the knife he was holding towards Leon.

The blade was hardly aerodynamic and the shot went so wide that the only one in danger was the far wall. Leslie had been watching when it was thrown. He cried out in fear, losing his concentration and control over his abilities in the process. The chef caught a glimpse of white hair and ivory skin as Leon burst through the back door and made a leap for it.

Leon landed hard on the New Mexico sand. He had managed to clear the large garbage bins and the rest of the gawking kitchen staff who had been waiting just outside the door. Leon didn't spare any of them a glance as he took off towards the desert. Heading in what was roughly the direction of the DSO outpost.

None of the other kitchen staff showed any interest in following him. After all, as far as they knew he didn't have anywhere else to go.

* * *

 

Because of the intense flatness of the rocky New Mexico desert it was impossible for the two friends to escape the shadow of New Eden labs on the horizon. No doubt they were still visible too, little specs in the distance getting steadily smaller.

The fact that new Eden didn't have any motor vehicles on site was a double edged sword. Leon couldn't hijack one for a quick escape, but any pursuit effort would have to take place on foot as well. If you got a good enough head start, it would be impossible for anyone to catch up.

Leon had let Leslie down a short while ago and they were walking side by side now. Leon paused every minute or so to check over his shoulder; he wanted to be ready if they needed to quicken the pace.

Meanwhile Leslie's attention was mostly focused downward. He was utterly fascinated by the way the sand slid between his toes every time he put his foot down. He experimented by placing his foot slowly, then quickly again. No matter the speed, the sand still gave under his weight whenever he pushed down hard enough.

Leon slowed down to keep pace with Leslie, smirking as he watched the younger man investigate. He would have to make a list of things to show Leslie now that he was finally out of his cage. Vegas and the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore and the White House, New Orleans, Niagara Falls.

Leslie's hat was starting to slide out of place. Leon reached over and pushed it back down tight over the albino's ears.

"If I knew we were going to be escaping like this I would have brought you some sunscreen." he mused, glancing over Leslie's exposed neck and feet. "Hopefully, we'll be inside long before it gets hot."

Leslie nodded in agreement, though Leon secretly suspected that a sunburn was also on the list of things Leslie had yet to experience.

Leon checked over his shoulder again. There still wasn't any indication that anyone had noticed him walking away with New Eden's primary test subject. They had been walking for nearly thirty minutes now. It was unlikely that Leon's distraction had lasted any longer than it took someone to find a fire extinguisher, and surely a top priority in an emergency was to secure the live specimens.

The lack of retaliation could only mean one thing. There was something Leon had overlooked. It could be any number of things. Maybe there was a car stashed somewhere underground that was being transported to ground level, or perhaps any second an armed helicopter would arise out of a hidden panel somewhere near the facility. It could even be that New Eden had a really good lawyer that they were willing to trust.

Leon could spend all day speculating, but he would probably find out sooner if he just focused on the situation at hand. He couldn't let his guard down, any moment now he could find himself neck deep in the fire underneath the frying pan.

Leon took Leslie's hand in his, squeezing the younger man's fingers tightly. Leslie turned, a smile as wide as Leon had ever seen on his face. The fresh air, the sun and the strange tingly sand were all such wonderful things.

They passed a few straggly looking plants, Leslie moved to touch one of the taller ones with very thin leaves, but Leon pulled him away before he could get too close.

"Those are cactuses. Maybe stay away from them."

Leslie huffed. He was going to be careful. He could see the pointy bits, and he was fairly sure he could maneuver around them to touch the smooth green trunk.

Leslie turned to look at Leon to try and explain to him, just in time to see the moment his greatest fears came true.

The bullet moved far too fast for the eye to see, so to Leslie it seemed as if Leon's back suddenly split open. The cartridge exploded on impact, the sound echoing across the empty desert. Shrapnel flew in all directions when it didn't pierce the flesh of its victim.

Leon keeled over, falling lifeless to the sand, his eyes still wide open in shock. The violence had been so sudden, Leslie had forgotten to scream.

Leslie threw himself at Leon, clutching for his only friend. His heart pounding so hard in his ears that he could hardly think. Leon was lying head first in the sand, but Leslie sensed that he was still breathing.

"Not dead! Not dead, not dead, not dead, not dead!" Leslie repeated the words over and over, though he wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure Leon or himself.

He turned his attention to the wound. There was so much blood. Too much blood. Far too much to lose. The sand greedily soaked it up, staining crimson in the process.

The exploding shell had taken a chunk out of Leon, cutting him deep enough that Leslie could see the white of ribs, shoulder blades, and spine sticking out of the bloody chum that has seconds ago been whole.

Leslie reached out. He could fix this. He could fix this. It was more than he had ever done before, but he could do it. He had to do it.

"Do-Don't"

Leon's eyes were brimming with tears of pain. Blood pooled in his mouth and was leaking out over his bottom lip. One or both of his lungs must have been pierced and blood was already spilling into his respiratory system.

"It… burns.."

Leon gasped for air, choking on his own blood in the process. His chest heaved as his muscles constricted, trying in vain to force out the liquid.

Leslie turned back to the wound and immediately noticed what the problem was. A piece of shrapnel, half buried in Leon's shoulder blade, was emitting a thick putrid smoke. The flesh around it turned bright pink and then white as it was seared by the acidic metal.

If Leslie healed Leon, the bits of metal would still be lodged inside him. They would burn away at his flesh from the inside and kill him, just as surely as the blood loss.

They had to come out, there was no other way. But Leslie could tell that some of the shrapnel shards had buried deep into Leon. Too deep to be picked out.

"No… no, no, no, no!" Leslie broke into sobbing, pounding his fists against the sand with every repeat. This wasn't real, it couldn't be real. This was another nightmare. It had to be. He couldn't just lose Leon like this. Leslie couldn't live without him. Before his bond-mate there was only darkness and pain, and after, it would be even worse. Because for a moment he had had someone. Someone who loved him unconditionally.

There had to be a way. There just had to. Some way to get the poison out so he could fix Leon. He needed a tool, something sharp and pointed. Something able to rend flesh.

How about claws and fangs?'

That last thought came to Leslie quite unbidden. As if there was another voice in his head. He recognized it of course. He had heard the voice of the monster before. The serpent he kept locked away, behind a solid steel door in his mind. It spoke to him only when things were dire; when it knew that Leslie was at his weakest.

'You can save him. We can save him.'

Leslie's physical body remained rooted to the spot beside Leon, but in his mind's eye, he was sitting with his back to the forbidden door. The door that he kept all the bad things behind. The parts of him that wanted to hurt, kill, feed and destroy.

'We know whose fault this is. We know who would hurt us like this. Ruvik will pay. Leon will be saved and Ruvik will  **PAY!** '

Mental Leslie curled up into a tight ball. Pressing his hands over his ears, even though that wouldn't help shut out the voice.

'No…' he whispered 'no… no… no.'

Leslie felt something large move on the other side of the door. Pressing itself against the metal.

'You will give in either way, if not now, then after losing him. There's no hope without Leon, not for either of us.'

Leslie couldn't deny that. Before he had found Leon, the voice had come to him almost every night. Wheedling and pleading for its freedom, for a chance to strike out and have its revenge on everyone and everything.

But Leon presence kept the dark thing in check, like having a light to shine into the darkness. Without Leon, the monster would win. Leslie hadn't the strength to fight it alone, not anymore.

Just a crack. Just enough to get what he needed. Enough to save Leon.

The locks and chains sealing the door gave way under a single touch. Leslie's fingers closed around the handle. The door creaked on rusty hinges opening a tiny gap. But it was enough. More than enough.

The darkness hit like a tidal wave, filling Leslie's mind. Downing him in cold sticky black goo. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think.

Outwardly Leslie's body began to tremble, his sky blue irises blossomed into a silky red. His tears washed away by the fresh blood streaming down his cheeks. His breathing changed from short hiccupping gasps to long heaving pants.

Leslie's jaw cracked painfully, the bones in his face shifting to accommodate the rows of pointed teeth that now filled his mouth. His front two canines lengthening till they protruded past his upper lip and dug into the bottom one.

Leon was barely hanging on to his last strand of consciousness. Shock had settled in and he couldn't feel any part of his body anymore. Leon's heart beat like a jackhammer, but it was only succeeding in killing him faster. He was almost as white as Leslie's now. He felt lightheaded and dizzy and his brain was just at the stage when it started hallucinating to distract itself from the inevitable end.

He heard the sound of bones breaking, low growling and the slick sounds of saliva dripping from panting lips. Was there a dog? Since when was there a dog around? Leon's thoughts latched onto the idea, and he quietly mused over how had always wanted to get a pet. But he was away too often to take care of one.

Leslie leaned over Leon. The older man's blue-gray eyes were totally blank. The life drained out of them. Black venom filled Leslie's mouth, dripping from the tips of his fangs. Leon caught a glimpse of his friend, just before Leslie buried his fangs deep into his neck.

Leon would never forget that face. His Leslie, soft baby-faced Leslie, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and bloodlust in his eyes.

The venom took hold almost instantly. The shock had taken away Leon's pain, but this was much stronger. He no longer felt distanced from his body, but completely severed from it. Wrapped up in soft clouds too tightly to move. Leon was far beyond thinking at this point, but part of him still recognize the feeling of being on a morphine drip from previous brushes with death.

Leon's heartbeat slowed as the muscle relaxers in the venom took hold. Leslie placed a hand on Leon's shoulder, but the feeling was so muted it barely felt like anything was there. Leon couldn't see what happened next, but he felt enough to know more than he would have liked about what was happening to him.

Leslie lifted his head from Leon's neck and shifted himself towards what used to be the DSO agent's back. He bowed his head forward, he could sense the shards, smell them burning the flesh around them.

Leslie bit down, blood and flesh filling his mouth. It tasted divine. Sweat human meat. Instinct urged him to swallow. He felt so hungry; how had he not noticed before? Leslie fought it, but the beast pushed back just as hard.

In the end it was the burning of the metal shard against his tongue that forced Leslie to spit out his mouthful onto the sand.

The moment passed and Leslie was able to wrestle control again. Now he was accustomed to the taste, it was easier to refuse. He spat out mouthful after mouthful as he tore the poison shards out.

By now Leon had lost more than enough blood to be fatal. But while half the albino's mind was focused on the removal of shrapnel, the other half was forcing the blood cells in Leon's veins to duplicate. It took massive amounts of energy to keep the pressure up. Almost all the blood Leslie was forcing in was pouring back out. But there was nothing else to be done, not till he got every last scrap.

Years in the future, Leon would be unable to think back to that harrowing half hour without physically squirming from his memories of being eaten alive from the inside out. Not many people could even imagine the feeling of a tongue lapping against exposed bone, but Leon could remember it vividly and at the worst possible moments.

The whole thing was painless of course. Morphine, or Leslie's biologically created version of it, was a hell of a drug like that.

The worst part of it was, with his brain swimming in chemical soup, it actually felt good. Leon would never remember it, but halfway through a smile had slipped onto his face and he had started to laugh through his shallow breaths.

He was still giggling as Leslie finally wrenched the last piece of shrapnel out. It was also the piece that had lodged itself in his lungs, putting a swift end to the DSO agent's drug crazed amusement.

Leslie took a deep breath in through his nose, checking for the scent of burning flesh. Satisfied that he had gotten them all, he sat back on his haunches and threw every last bit of his strength into one final effort.

Flesh knitted at an alarming rate, muscles stretched over the bones, then was covered by new skin. Blood flowed through the reconnected veins, Leon's blood pressure rapidly recovering as he went through weeks of normal healing in seconds.

It was probably for the best that Leon was paralyzed with narcotics. Such a sudden recovery might have been just as deadly as the wound without a forced heart rate. It was still a shock though, and Leon blacked out halfway through.

When Leon came to, he found that Leslie had rolled him onto his back and was leaning over him. The albino's fangs had begun a slow retreat and his eyes were clear. But his face was still covered with both of their blood.

Leslie lifted a hand, trying to wipe the worst of it off his chin. He licked his lips, then licked his hand. It didn't taste as wonderful as before, but it was still hard to resist lapping up the excess.

Leon couldn't help but think Leslie looked like a cat, licking the stains off his pure white coat. He smiled, trying to reach for some kind of smart remark to make about the situation, but his drug addled mind didn't have anything for him.

Leslie leaned close to Leon, smelling the blood on the DSO agent's chin. He ran his tongue just under Leon's bottom lip, following the taste and pressing his lips against Leon's. He was tentative about it at first, but Leon was so soft and tasted of tangy blood and sweat.

Leslie leaned into the kiss, tangling his fingers into Leon's hair. The DSO agent's arm twitched, but the venom in his veins held him down as surely as if he was tied in place.

At this point a sober Leon would probably have been suffering from a massive amount of confusion and guilt. Once or twice his thoughts may have strayed out of merely finding his albino friend cute and into the realm of physical attraction. But he would never have taken it this far.

For the moment, though, that was something future Leon would have to reconcile. Current Leon was enjoying himself too much to care about anything besides the fact that Leslie was cautiously venturing into an open mouthed kiss.

Leslie ran his hands down Leon's chest, feeling the shallow breathing and steady pulse. Alive, it was almost too good to be true. The immense relief turned his hunger into something stronger, possessive and needy, it urged him into a deeper kiss, made him want to push this as far as he could.

The albino had never quite realized how sensitive lips and tongue could be when pressed together. At first the urge had seemed so strange, but there must have been something primal in his DNA that knew how good this would feel.

That warm tingling feeling Leslie got when Leon touched him was back and stronger than ever. But Leslies desire to indulge in the sensation was hampered by inexperience. He experimented by running his tongue over the flat part of the DSO agent's teeth. Leon gave a little shudder in response, like the fluttering of butterfly wings.

Seeking more skin contact, Leslie shifted. He straddled Leon's hips, careful to put most of his weight there so he wouldn't restrict the older man's breathing.

Leon groaned aloud, biting down on his bottom lip. Leslie blinked down at him, worried for a moment he'd hurt his bond-mate.

Meanwhile, Leon's own thoughts were several shades less innocent. He hadn't noticed until just now how much he had apparently been enjoying this. God, he hoped that he had gotten hard when they were making out, and not when Leslie was digging fangs into his back. That would be completely fucked up.

Leon started to giggle to himself again. Suddenly struck by how super fucked up everything happening right now was. His shoulders shook with unhinged mirth, his voice harsh and raspy from the blood he had coughed up.

Fear entered Leslie's blue eyes, washing his focus clear of the blood and lust filled haze. The beast's claws wrenched from him and he was finally himself again. His scared, useless, helpless, self.

Leslie put one hand over Leon's mouth to quiet him, and to Leslie's relief it worked. Leon's high was starting to lull. His alert eyes seemed to drain of life as his body began to shut down in desperate need of a rest.

Leslie stroked Leon's hair with one hand, copying what Leon had done for him when he had fallen asleep crying. It seemed to work just as well in reverse. Leon relaxed under the ministrations, but seemed hesitant to close his eyes right away. Leslie tried his best to seem reassuring, but conveying his real emotions was hard enough as it was, never mind trying to embody fake ones.

Eventually Leon's eyelids closed. Leslie took a deep breath, turning to face the company that had come up behind him just as Leon had begun to lose consciousness.

His presence acknowledged, Ruvik brought his hands together for a round of painfully sarcastic applause.

"You know. I almost wondered if you would actually do it. Whether that insect meant enough to you."

In the bright morning light even Ruvik's hood couldn't hide him. Leslie could see every scar, all the places where the skin clung to tight, was burned or cut away. Ruvik chose to look this way, to show everyone what he truly was inside and out.

He was a monster, a beast, an evil serpent who wrapped its tail around Leslie's throat just to see him squirm. Inside his mind or outside of it, Ruvik was there, inflicting suffering around him. Rivers could flow with blood and never satisfy his thirst for vengeance.

Ruvik bend down and wrapped one hand around Leslie's throat, squeezing just hard enough to shorten his experiment's breath.

"How did his blood taste? Delicious, I'd imagine. I can see you've been lapping it up. No point in wasting something so good, right?" Ruvik almost purred as he asked his questions, covering his cutting words in salted honey. "How does it feel to be just like me, How does it feel to be a monster?"

Leslie stared back blankly, it was as close to defiance as he could get. Simply not breaking down when Ruvik stepped on him.

"Did you expect him to understand? To treat you like a human?" Ruvik laughed, ice cold and sharp. "You would have broken one day, oh yes, you would have, and as soon as you changed from an adorable lost puppy into the monster you are. He would have shot you dead. Ask dear agent Kennedy himself. He makes his living killing monsters like us."

In a single careless movement, Ruvik slammed Leslie down onto the bloodstained sand. The wind was knocked out of the young man's chest and Ruvik took advantage of the moment to slam an auto injector into Leslies shoulder.

"He's going to hate you now" Ruvik whispered, leaning close to speak directly into Leslie's ear. "Or if you're lucky, just scared to death."

Leslie fell unconscious, feeling Ruvik breathing down his neck, laughing at him.

* * *

 

"Ah. Finally awake agent Kennedy? You're Just in time to answer a few questions for us."

Leon shut his eyes against the bright light as soon as he opened them. He tried to cover his eyes to block out the large surgical flood lamp, but something hard around his writs held him back.

The throbbing ache behind his eyes was reassuring though. It meant that the painkillers had finely passed through his system.

For the first few moments after waking, Leon had hoped that his memories of this morning were simply a vivid nightmare. But as he lay on the experimentation table, bound by all four of his limbs, the vivid pictures refused to melt or fade away like a dream might.

"Leave him, he won't have anything useful to offer."

The light shining in Leon's eyes was pushed aside. The DSO agent blinked rapidly, straining to get a handle on his surroundings. He hadn't seen this laboratory before, but given he had only spent a day in the facility, that wasn't surprising.

Still, he doubted this particular room was on the tour route. Mostly because it screamed 'evil human experimentation laboratory'.

Glass tubes the approximately the size of coffins were lined up against one wall. They were full of some kind of blue liquid with bubbles of air being passed through from a filter at the bottom of the tank. Assuming they were for hosing experiments and not fish; the fact they were empty could mean that they hadn't been used yet, or that the things living in them had already been let out.

Leon wondered if Leslie had lived inside a tube at one point. The thought prompted a question that he should have asked sooner. Where had they taken Leslie? Leon pushed himself up as best he could. The bindings on his wrists didn't have much give, but he could prop himself up enough to glance to his left and right.

As it turned out Leslie wasn't that far away. The laboratory held a total of three human specimen tables, spaced about 3 meters apart. Leslie was tied in a similar position to Leon and from what he could tell the younger man was awake. Monitors were set up all around Leslie; displaying images taken with a long focal length lens and from some distance away.

Leon had to squint a bit to make them out, but the pictures seemed to be of Leslie dressed in the leather jacket Leon had lent him. Only there was something wrong with his jaw. With a jerk of shock, Leon recognized the face he had glimpsed out of the corner of his eye. The bloody eyes and teeth.

Leon looked at the real Leslie again, he seemed just like normal. Placid, small, and quiet. Leon probably wouldn't have believed that the Leslie in the pictures was real if he hadn't seen, and felt, it himself.

Rubin was leaning over the console. Normally the good not-doctor had a permanent passive aggressive scowl on his face, but at the moment he had replaced it with a passive aggressive smile. Dr. Jimenez stood beside him; clutching a clipboard and looking at his co-worker with an expression that a parent might have while pulling a child having a tantrum out of a grocery store.

"I'm still failing to see why you decided to take violent action this soon in the proceedings. Agent Kennedy hasn't even been with us for a day."

"We weren't making any progress with your methods. I had a theory and I tested it. A gamble, maybe, but unlike you, I got results. " Rubin replied coldly, flicking through the images on the screens; zooming in to get a close up on one of Leslie's scarlet irises.

"You assumed that the first attempt at creating a genetic bond failed. But if that were true, where did sweet little Leslie learn to rend flesh and bone?" Ruben paused, allowing the doctor time to answer his rhetorical question. As expected, all he got in return was an annoyed glare.

"He resisted my control long enough to find someone else to latch onto, but my influence is still there. All it took to lure it out was to take away the only thing he cares about."

Dr. Jimenez raised his eyebrows, thoroughly unaffected by his co-worker's dramatics.

"Let me guess. You knew that from experience."

Ruben's eyes narrowed, his temper flaring up. The pair was standing a fair distance away so Leon could have imagined it, but he thought he saw a flash of red in Ruben's eyes.

"Excuse me ladies, but are you done gossiping behind my back now?" Leon asked, taking advantage of the lull in conversation. Dr. Jimenez turned to look at him, but a disapproving snarl from Rubin called his attention back. Apparently Ruben hadn't finished showing off.

"I'm close to finding out how to perfect the bonding. You said yourself that you can't have this flaw when production starts. Once I fix this, and get my half of our deal, you can abandon this faculty as planned. The DSO will even do all the cleanup work when I'm finished with their lap dog."

Dr. Jimenez tapped a pen against his clipboard. Thinking it over.

"Do you really think you'll be able to perfect it that quickly?"

"Easily."

"And what of subject 1A, and Leslie?"

"They're none of your concern. The failures are mine to fix or destroy as I see fit."

Leslie's passive staring at the ceiling didn't waver, even when the topic came around to Ruben's plans to control or kill him. As far as Leon had seen, his albino friend hadn't so much as blinked since he had started watching him.

"Leslie, Are you alright?" Leon called, no longer listening to whatever Ruben and Marcelo were discussing.

Leslie blanched, but his gaze didn't waver from the ceiling. He had curled inside of himself like a tortoise hiding in its shell, frozen into complete stillness by fear or possibly shock.

"Leslie-!" Leon tried again, louder this time.

A flash of shiny metal and something hit and stuck in the table Leon was laying on. The sharp 'thunk' of impact cutting off his thought.

Ruben strolled over and retrieved his scalpel, leaning over Leon to yank it out of the thin imitation-leather padding.

"I don't suppose you would be willing to leave me to my research now, Marcelo?"

"Of course. But I expect to see results by tonight Ruvik."

Leon blinked, stunted into the silence one falls into when they finally realized that what seemed like a complicated puzzle, was really more of a case of one plus one equalling two.

"so Ruvik is Ruben, Hun. Well, I suppose every nickname can't be a winner." Leon smirked up at the looming Ruvik. The other man gritted his teeth and wielding the scalpel like a dagger, plunged it deep into Leon's forearm. The latter screamed, managing to bite the involuntary outburst back, but too late to stop Ruvik from taking immense joy from his petty revenge.

"Friendly piece of advice, agent Kennedy, Ruvik prefers not to be called by his legal name." Dr. Jimenez added, unhelpfully.

"You don't  **fucking** say." Leon replied, keeping his attitude surprisingly calm for the amount of pain he was currently in.

Marcelo shrugged and left the room. Leaving Ruvik to his test subjects. He wasn't a fan of Ruvik's methods, but he couldn't argue with the results. As a matter of self-preservation, though, he preferred not to witness the processes first hand.

Leslie seemed to awaken then. The sound of Leon's scream managing to pierce through his self-erected armor. He sat up, his eyes fixed on the DSO agent. He mumbled Leon's name over and over under his breath. Wriggling in his bindings as he tried to see what had happened.

Ruvik's good mood evaporated like a puddle under the desert sun. His colorless irises locking on his experiment. Leon watched helplessly as Ruvik stalked back over to Leslie's side of the room and picked up another sharp tool. This one didn't even have pretensions of being a medical instrument. It was simply a dagger made of stainless steel.

"Leslie!" Leon yelled, nearly tearing his right shoulder out of its socket as he strained to do something, anything.

Leslie didn't take his eyes off Leon even as Ruvik lifted his weapon and brought it down, piercing the albino man through the heart. Leslie stiffened, arching back in soundless agony. Ruvik struck again and again, attacking the lungs, then the stomach. Cutting the front of the borrowed leather jacket to ribbons in his senseless frenzy.

Leon saw red, growing deaf to his own words as he spat every vicious curse he had ever learned at Ruvik. Leslie went limp, not letting out so much as a whimper. If it weren't for the involuntary muscle spasms he could have just as easily been a corpse.

With a wail of frustration, Ruvik threw his weapon to the floor. His modified lab coat was coated in blood splatter patterns, like a gruesome Jackson Pollock painting.

The room fell silent. Both Leon and Ruvik panting heavily, strained to the breaking point from the moment of violence. Blood dripped over the sides of the experimentation table, forming more puddles on the white tiled laboratory floor.

Slowly but surely, Leslie's skin began to pull back together. The steady flow of blood trickled to a halt as the wounds they leaked from vanished. Leslie lay still throughout the whole process, feigning the death that he surely would have suffered if he were human.

"Do you see now? Do you see what you've done?!" Ruvik spat, slamming both his hands against the table, uncaring of the blood that coated it.

"Are you talking to me, you walking sack of shit?" Leon rasped. His voice still strained from his venomous outburst.

Ruvik laughed out loud, he loved feisty prey. "Keep that tongue sharp Kennedy, it's the only weapon you have left."

Ruvik slowly unbuttoned his lab coat. He threw the soiled garment to the floor with his weapon, revealing a gray suit vest worn underneath.

"Leslie used to scream for me. It was a lovely sound, such fear and desperation, despite never having known anything else but pain." Ruvik stroked Leslie's hair as he spoke, but Leslie didn't even open his eyes in return.

"Then you stole him from me. I still don't understand why. I can only assume you pitied him. Another poor little lost lamb for you to save, put another notch in your ego."

"Course you don't." Leon scoffed. He was still too angry to really feel the pain from the knife in his arm. "Sick bastards like you never understand what it's like to care about anyone but yourself."

Ruvik tilted his head. "It's pathetic how little you understand. Everything I have done, every casualty along the way, all of it was because I cared. Love opens up an avenue for a whole new kind of pain. Deeper than any physical wound. Leslie discovered that just this morning, didn't you, pet?"

Leslie stirred this time, but he didn't look at Ruvik. His gaze was focused purely on Leon. Desperate blue eyes shimmering with empathetic pain for Leon's injured arm.

"When one method of inflicting pain becomes ineffective, it's time to switch to a new one. All I had to do was shoot you in the back and then... then, I finally got the fear I deserved." Ruvik left Leslie and crossed the room to Leon. He grasped the experimentation table with both hands and pulled it along a track in the floor, closing the gap between his two test subjects.

"You thought you were helping him didn't you? But really all you did was had me the tools I needed to finally break him."

Leon was contemplating whether or not he could spit on Ruvik from this angle. Before he could decide one way or the other, he noticed a flash of red and gold around Ruvik's neck. Looking closer Leon could just make out the small heart shaped vile hanging on a golden chain. It had decorative gilding all along the sides, depicting blooming sunflowers and two letters an L. And a V.

"When I kill you it will either destroy Leslie or concrete my influence." Ruvik continued, letting go of the side of the table. The gap between Leslie and Leon was only about a foot now. Close enough to be able to see every flicker of emotion on either of their faces. "-But before that happens, I want you to understand how foolish you were. That this was always your fight to lose."

"All I'm hearing right now is you sucking your own dick." Leon hissed, watching Leslie struggling out of the corner of his eye. Maybe if he kept insulting Ruvik, he could distract the psychopath into taking shots at him instead of Leslie.

As he hoped, Ruvik rounded on him and took a firm hold on the handle of the scalpel he had left in Leon's arm. With a vicious twist, he yanked it free. This time Leon was prepared for it and grit his teeth hard enough to reduce his reaction down to a pained grunt.

Leon forced his watering eyes open. Leslie was struggling so hard it looked like he might hurt himself. He whined and cried out wildly like a distressed animal in a cage. Going into a frenzy of panic.

"Leslie. Leslie, I'm fine. Don't-" Leon was cut off as the scalpel found a new resting place, this time just under his ribs. Leon froze in pain, then keeled backwards against the table, panting heavily.

"F-uck… you.."

Ruvik smiled wide enough to show teeth, stretching the scarred skin around his jaw.

"This time you should watch agent Kennedy. See how he transforms, and the power that you overlooked." Ruvik turned to another tray of pseudo medical instruments, carefully picking out a pair of needle-pointed scissors.

Leon hid agony well, but Leslie could see through his front as clear as glass. This was all his fault. He had gotten Leon into this. If he hadn't grown so attached Ruvik wouldn't have hurt him. His selfishness had only dragged Leon into hell with him. Stupid selfish Leslie. Useless, helpless, pointless waste of space.

'He will die for this. I will strangle him myself. Death is too good for Ruvik,  **but he will have it!** '

The thoughts of the beast were louder now. Like a roar in his ear. The wall between the two parts of his mind was gone. He could smell Leon's blood, the stronger the scent the faster Leslie's breath came.

Ruvik's hand pulled back, a trail of blood followed the movement, the splatter hitting Leslie across the face.

Leslie's hyperventilating breaths stopped mid inhale. The world freezing around him as pure and unending rage filled every single cell in his body.

Ruvik paused his assault on Leon. Letting the latest sharp tool clatter to the ground. He dug his bloodstained fingers into Leon's scalp, holding the DSO agent's head so he had to watch what happened next.

Bones broke and knitted back together as the virus in Leslie's body set to transforming him inside and out. Fingertips changed into claws made of pearly white bone. Flat teeth sharpened into the fangs of a predator and Leslie's jaw shifted to resemble that of a bear or possibly a wolf.

The worst was the eyes. The bloodshot scleral tissue and distinctive blood markings that ran in a slow but constant stream down Leslie's cheeks.

Leon swallowed hard, tasting blood in his mouth. Ruvik smile was wide enough now to be unsettling. He cautiously approached his creation. Leslie snarled and spit at him, teeth bared. The table underneath him creaked with the strain.

Ruvik took another step forward, offering his bare arm to Leslie. In a Lightning fast movement, Leslie bit down, sinking his fangs in deep. Ruvik's back straightened, a slight shiver passing down his spine as his blood dripped down Leslie's chin.

A wave of repulsion mixed in with Leon's pain. He didn't think he could have hated Ruvik any more than he already did, but getting off on Leslie's agony was vile.

Ruvik took his arm back with a jerk, not seeming to care about the chunk of arm Leslie took with him when they separated. The scarred skin closed over the wound, just as easily as it would have for Leslie.

"Y-you can kill me Ruben." Leon spat out blood, determined not to let the intense pain in his chest stop him. "But the DSO won't let you escape alive. It's only a matter of hours 'till this whole place is burnt to a crisp."

"Oh, I don't think so." Ruvik replied. "I intend to keep you alive for a few more days. It would be a shame to cut my time short with such an entertaining patient." Ruvik went over to where his lab coat had landed and pulled something clunky out of the pocket.

"And in the meantime. You're going to reassure the bespectacled mother hen that everything is just fine on your end." Ruvik dangled the device over Leon's head. Sure enough, it was his communicator unit.

Leon laughed out loud, ignoring how the effort increased the bleeding from his chest.

"-And why the fuck would I do that?!"

"Because, you care about Leslie." Ruvik answered simply. "Look at him agent Kennedy, do you really think that any of your beloved DSO agents would even take a second look before shooting?"

Leon did look at Leslie. His heart sinking into his stomach as he realized that Ruvik was right. He knew that Leslie was still there, under the teeth and claws, but all anyone else would see was a crazed bioweapon on the verge of a rampage.

"I thought so." Ruvik gloated, tucking Leon's com unit into his pants pocket. "I've always been a fan of ironic deaths and this is one for the record books. The monster killer unwilling to let a monster die."

Ruvik pressed a button on the side of Leslie's table, then stepped back hastily. The cuff on the albino experiment's right arm gave way. Partially freed, Leslie threw himself towards Leon, reaching with the full length of his arm. His hand touched Leon's wrist. The second he made contact, a powerful shock passed through it and into Leon's chest.

Ruvik observed as all the damage he had laboriously inflicted was reversed in an instant. As the process finished, Leslie's snarling quieted and was replaced with long pathetic sobs.

Perfectly human fingers wrapped around Leon's wrist. Leslie's face was buried in the crook of his trapped arm.

"Monster… Leslie… Leslie monster… let monster die…" he cried in-between breaths. His whole body shaking with shame and fear.

"Leslie." Leon replied sharply. Able to use his commanding tone now that he was no longer fighting for every word. "That isn't you. You can't listen to Ruben. He's just trying to hurt you."

Leslie lifted his head, just enough to look over his arm.

A high pitched alarm pierced the air; the lights in the laboratory flickered and went out. Replaced seconds later by the dim glow of the backup systems.

Ruvik tensed, hissing under his breath. He hated interruptions. He glanced at his two test subjects. Leslie was half curled up, screaming something about it being 'loud' and Leon was still bound tighter than a cornish hen in a roasting pot.

Fine then. They weren't going anywhere. The warning alarm cut out unexpectedly and settled the matter. Ruvik stormed out, locking and sealing the doors of the laboratory behind him.

Leon watched him go, Letting out a long breath. A loud clang came from somewhere across the room. One of the ceiling panels had come loose and fallen to the floor.

A moment later a figure of a woman, in black leather pants and a red jacket, dropped from the gap; landing in a crouch on the floor.

Leon grinned bitterly. Not bothering to turn his head to see who it was.

"You're a little late."


	5. Wolf Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this chapter was an fuck and a half to write. Who knew finishing stuff was so hard. 
> 
> special thanks to my fandom BFF Becca for kicking my arse hard enough to get it finished.

"Well, I was expecting you to last a little longer before I would need to sweep in for the rescue. I had to move up my schedule to make it here." Ada's heeled boots clicked against the floor as she hustled over. Her tone was calm, but concern was written all over her face and in her hurried motions.

"The release buttons are on the side." Leon explained. "Help Leslie first, please."

Ada frowned but did as he asked. She stepped carefully around the pools of blood and slammed her fist down on the release controls on Leslie's table.

With his arms and legs now freed, the albino curled himself into a tight ball. Legs tucked up against his chest and his face hidden in his folded arms.

Ada moved back over to Leon, undoing the bindings and offering a leather gloved hand to help him sit up. The DSO agent took it and sat up with a groan of pain. Though all the wounds were long gone, he was incredibly stiff. It probably had something to do with the fact that most of the muscles in his back weren't the same ones he had started the day with.

"Are you alright?" Ada asked, glancing down at the gory mess that used to be Leon's shirt.

"Yeah. Thanks to Leslie, I am. Though I'm discovering that bleeding to death sucks even if you don't die from it." Leon forced a smile and turned to look over at his quivering friend, worry settling over him as he noticed how upset Leslie was.

Leon jumped down off the table, keeling over when his legs decided they weren't down for the, 'supporting the rest of him,' thing. Lucky, Ada caught his arm in time to steady him before he made friends with the floor.

Leon thanked her, taking a second to gather himself before walking over to Leslie. Leon reached out a hand, but Leslie saw it coming and pulled away with a shriek of fear. Before Leon had time to react, Leslie had launched himself off the table.

"Leslie!" Leon cried out, but it was already too late. Leslie landed on his shoulder, hitting the ground at a bad angle and barely escaping banging his head against the tiles. He pushed himself up on trembling arms. Instinct urged him to run, but the impulse wasn't translating to his limbs. He pushed off against the ground with his back foot, but the forward motion only served to make him stumble and roll over onto his side.

"Leslie, stop! You're going to hurt yourself." Leon insisted. He navigated around the table and approached the younger man with both arms outstretched. "Just, come here, okay?"

Leslie made a second attempt to bolt. This time, he managed to get himself upright. The enhanced strength and reflexes of the Progenitor Virus made basic movement even more of a challenge than usual. He managed to put together a few steps, then tried for a proper run.

Leon pounced, wrapping both arms around the swaying Leslie. The albino screamed, but more out of desperation than fear. He just wanted Leon to stay away from him. He couldn't control the beast... Not anymore. He would never forgive himself if he hurt Leon by accident.

"Ruben is just trying to get under your skin. You're not a monster. -And fuck, I'm the leading expert on them, so you can take my word for it." Leon tightened his grip around Leslie's middle, trapping the younger man in a tight bear hug.

"Let go, let go, let go!" Leslie trashed left and right. Trying to break free of Leon's grip. Leslie was drowning in a maelstrom of conflicting feelings of fear and anger. He wanted to beg for forgiveness, scream to be left alone, hug Leon back, and push him away, all at the same time.

Leslie lashed out and bit down hard on Leon's wrist. His teeth were as flat as any normal human, but the bite was still vicious enough to leave a bright red mark. Leon tensed, grunting with pain. His grip around Leslie didn't loosen even an inch. He closed his eyes and held tight, waiting for his friend to calm down.

Leslie panted heavily around Leon's wrist. His jaw slacking as he realized what he was doing. Leslie jerked his head back, seeing the red welts he had inflicted.

"S-sorry… sorry! I'm sorry... sorry..." Leslie croaked, on the verge of tears again.

"Shush, it's alright okay? I'm right here. None of this is your fault." Leon squeezed tighter, wishing he could make Leslie understand.

Leon guided Leslie to the floor and pulled the younger man into his lap. Leslie wiggled until he was facing the older man and hugged Leon around the middle.

Ada, who had been watching all this unfold with quiet interest, walked over and kneeled beside them.

"You know-" she began, resting her chin on one gloved hand. "It's almost scary how good you are at that. It's no wonder that Leslie chose you."

"Yeah, well fat lot of good it's done him so far." Leon said with a sigh. "So far, all I've done is manage to tick off a psychotic mutant-doctor-wannabe, and get both of us injured."

Ada chuckled and unhooked one of the pistols from her belt. She pressed it into Leon's hand. It was the same weapon she had left for him in his room. It must have been retrieved when his unconscious body had been collected from the desert.

"Well, you're not done yet. So it's a little early to decide the score." Ada observed, pausing to pat Leon on the head as you might with a golden retriever. "I've got my own mission to run, but you're welcome to come with me if you'd rather stick together."

Leon glanced down at Leslie. He seemed to have calmed down a bit and hadn't slipped into another round of crying. With a little luck, he might be able to get the younger man to his feet and moving again.

"It depends." Leon said, fingers tightening around the butt of his pistol. "Does your mission have any side effects that will seriously piss off Ruben?"

"Of course." Ada smiled. "Though I wouldn't say 'piss off'. More like, 'completely devastate'."

Leon had to consider for a moment. His logical side was telling him that keeping Leslie out of harm's way was more important than getting revenge. But Leon's pride wasn't going to let him take that option without complaining bitterly.

There was also the fact that Ruvik had taken his com unit. So even if the thing had decided to start working, there was no calling in backup.

His last solo escape attempt had ended incredibly poorly, so it was just as well to stick with Ada. Revenge or no revenge.

Leon helped Leslie to his feet, the albino sniffled once more, but he was breathing regularly now. Leon took a firm hold on Leslie's right hand, then turned to Ada.

"Okay, we'll come with you."

The super spy grinned, stood up, and tossed her hair back, "Wonderful, let's start by getting out of this room shall we?"

A few taps on a wall-mounted keyboard, and a large side panel near the laboratory door slid up to reveal a small elevator. Ada stepped inside and waved for Leon and Leslie to follow.

"Promise to stay close to me, okay?" Leon asked, looking Leslie in the eyes and lacing the fingers of their hands together.

"Stay close to me, okay." Leslie repeated. Squeezing Leon's hand just as tightly.

* * *

 

The elevator only had two buttons. One for the laboratory, and one for the basement storage rooms. It must have been built as a shortcut. But that brought into question why anyone would need to get from the storerooms and the experimentation laboratories quickly.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there's more stored on the fifth floor than just canned tuna." Leon muttered, raising his eyebrows in Ada's direction.

The doors of the elevator slid open, letting the oddly matched infiltration team into the huge underground hall. Leon stopped dead in his tracks after clearing the doors, his mouth hanging open as he took in the impossible space.

The room was huge and open, with an uncanny resemblance to an airplane hangar. Halfway up to the dome-like ceiling a balcony ran across the length of the room, giving the space a theater-like feeling.

But the balcony was also cut off from the large space in the middle by a tunnel of glass that bent over the narrow passageway. Leon has seen things like it before in pedestrian overpasses between buildings. But in this case, the glass was in place to protect whoever was standing on the balcony from whatever was going on in the main chamber.

The elevator had opened out on the balcony, inside the presumed safe zone. Leslie took one look at the space and crowded closer to Leon, letting out an anxious whimper. Ada herself didn't seem impressed by the structural feat of the gigantic underground room.

She led her two companions around a corner of the balcony, then down a set of stairs. The doors at the bottom were two solid hunks of steel. There was even a set of green and red lights above them to indicate it was safe to pass through.

Leslie tugged on Leon's hand, not quite hard enough to show protest, but enough to make it clear he wasn't as convinced as Leon that they should be following Ada into this next area.

"Just beyond here is the combat testing faculty," Ada explained, "don't worry, all the test subjects are locked up. What's left of them, anyway."

Ada swiped her card and the electric lock slid open, the door swinging outward.

Once Leon had taken a few steps into the room, it finally dawn on him that he was standing in the middle of a gladiatorial arena.

The flat concrete floor was covered in various pieces of junk. Ranging from broken-down cars to collapsed piles of barrels and boxes. Buildings that were nothing more than roofless collections of walls were erected at tactical intervals to provide hiding spaces and cover.

Chain linked fencing blocked off one side of the arena, physically torn apart in places by something trying to get out or in.

The battlefield might have been a false environment, but the violence that had taken place there was all too real. Leon looked down, noticing the scorch marks and dark brown dried bloodstains on the concrete floor.

Leon pulled Leslie close, wrapping one arm around the albino's shoulders. Ada glanced back at him, reading his thoughts as clear as if he had just spoken them.

"Leslie was never brought down here. It was decided early on that provoking aggressive behavior out of him was pointless."

Leon nodded, but kept his arm protectively over Leslie as they circled around the side of the arena. They stuck to the wall and out of the way of the environmental hazards.

Much like the Roman coliseum, arched pathways lead to smaller, inner rooms. Housing the combatants before the battle began. Ada led them down the one on the far north end of the arena.

"I don't suppose this is where they keep the tigers?" Leon asked, quickening his pace a little so he wasn't lagging so far behind Ada.

The super spy chuckled, but didn't respond, she was too focused on the doorway ahead. This one looked much like the last. Windowless steel with red and green indicator lights. But this door was clearly built to accommodate something a lot larger than human scientists.

Once Ada's key card validated, the large pieces of metal opened automatically and slid into hidden grooves in the wall.

The flooring changed dramatically just beyond the threshold of the next room. Simple concrete giving way to the sterile laboratory tile. It looked like the room Leon and Leslie had been trapped in three floors above. However the focal point of this space was not experimentation tables, but huge glass tubes reinforced with steel.

Leon made to follow Ada into the center of the room, but stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes fell on the occupant of the first tube.

The inside of the glass was coated in what was unmistakably dried blood, obscuring the thing inside. Whatever it was, it was clearly alive. Leon's finely trained nerves could sense something large, imposing, and alien. He caught a glimpse of pale white skin covered in blood, a flash of matted black hair.

Leslie whimpered, his grip on Leon's hand tightening 'till it was almost painful.

"Laura, Laura..." he whispered. Tugging on Leon, trying to pull him away from the thing in the tube.

A hand slammed against the glass from the inside. Leon caught a glimpse of long, slender fingertips that ended in nails the size of daggers. Leon took a sharp gasp of air. His memory jolted, throwing up an image of Leslie's back savaged by impossibly large claw marks.

The monster in the tube didn't look like the one Leon had seen in the hallway last night. That and Leslie had said that the swarming mass of blood had been Ruvik. So, had this creature been out as well?

It seemed impossible, who would let a bio-weapon wander around the facility at night?

Well, actually, he knew the answer to that question. Ruvik. Ruvik would sick his twisted creation on Leslie as some kind of abusive punishment for expressing his own free will.

"Come here for a moment. You should see this." Ada called, she was standing in front of a small console computer attached to one of the specimen tubes on the far side of the room.

Leon shook his head and walked over. Leslie let a long breath out that sounded like a sigh of relief.

As Leon approached this second tube his eyes were pulled away from Ada and towards the creature behind the glass.

Suspended in the same pale blue liquid that Leon had seen in the smaller tubes upstairs, was the curled up body of a young woman. Her skin and hair were paper white and in the soft blue light she seemed to glow.

Her hair fanned out in all directions, floating like a halo around her body. If gravity had been effecting it, her hair would have gone down passed her hip.

Leon looked over at Leslie, the albino man was looking at the girl with wide eyes. They could almost be twins from what Leon could see. But it might have just been the shared lack of pigmentation.

"Leon. Do you trust me?"

Ada's question was so sudden Leon took a good thirty seconds to respond.

"That's a bit of a loaded question, isn't it?"

Leon managed to pull his eyes away from the girl in the tube so he could examine Ada. She was looking intently at him, her brown eyes betraying a hint of something. Was it fear? Unlikely. Melancholy, maybe.

"Yeah, I trust you." He added after a moment. Even if Ada did stab him in the back a little from time to time. It was usually, more or less, a harmless backstabbing.

"How about you, Leslie? Do you trust me?" Ada's attention moved from Leon to his albino companion. Up until this point, Ada hadn't spoken directly to Leslie, so it caught the young man off guard.

Leslie searched Leon's face for any indication of what he should to do. But the DSO agent could only give him a confused shrug.

"It's up to you." He said. "I wouldn't advise trusting Ada, but that doesn't stop me from doing it."

Leslie turned back to Ada. He felt with certainty that the woman in red was dangerous. She could kill with ease, and frequently did so. Killing didn't necessarily mean she was bad though. Leon killed things too. What mattered, is if you were doing it to protect or to hurt.

Ada was... protective. Much like Leon. In fact in seemed the same kind of protective. As if she had picked it up from Leon. Whoever the red woman really was, she and Leon understood each other in a way you would usually expect from people born in the same litter.

Leslie nodded, then, suspecting that she would prefer a verbal response, he repeated her words.

"Trust... you..."

Ada smiled, and to Leon's mild shock he realized it was a genuine smile, with no hint of bitter sarcasm or blasé.

"Thank you, Leslie" Ada said. Turning her attention back to the console. "By the way, you two might want to take a few steps back. We don't have enough time to drain the tube. So, I'm going to activate the emergency release."

"Ada..." Leon warned, emphasizing her name in a manner that reflected his fraying nerves. "Now would be the ideal time to explain what exactly your goals are." As he spoke, Leon was pulling Leslie away from the tube. He had known Ada long enough to understand that following her advice should be a top priority, even when annoyed with her.

Ada pressed a few keys. A slow, melodic beeping started up, then grew faster and more ear-piercing by the second.

Near the bottom of the tube, two circular panels began to move. The rings had a pattern of inch wide holes running across its entire surface. So when the panels turned, the holes on the plate on the bottom lined up with the holes of the one on top, and opened the flood gates.

It was a simple but effective way to keep the water in place or allow it to drain with the same mechanism.

When the draining procedure activated, the holes turned into miniature fire hoses, spraying the blue liquid in all directions.

Ada leapt out of the splash zone as soon as she had finished the release procedure. Leon and Leslie had stood just far enough back that the liquid was in puddle form when it reached them. The liquid pooled around three pairs of feet, two in boots and one set bare, before it was sucked down a drain in the center of the room.

As the water level in the tank plummeted, the watertight locks began to give way. The two semicircle pieces of glass parted from the band of metal holding them in place. They swung outwards, hitting the floor with a stomach wrenching shatter. Leon reflexively pulled Leslie against his chest, but none of the shards managed to hit either of them.

Her prison now well and truly broken open, the albino girl lay curled up on her side in the bottom of the tube. Ada gingerly stepped over the broken glass, the shards cracking under the heels of her boots.

The girl blinked her eyes open at the sound of Ada's footsteps. She glanced around wildly from Ada to Leon and jumped to her feet. She seemed not to be suffering from any fatigue or muscle tension from being suspended in water for who knew how long.

The girl moved her lips as if she was speaking, but no sound came out. Seeming to recognize the problem, she took in a sharp gasp of air, filling her previously empty lungs. She choked and spat up some of the blue liquid, then took another shaky breath.

While all this was going on, Leon was becoming increasingly aware of the fact that the young woman standing in front of him was completely naked. While she had been in the tube, he hadn't thought much of it, but seeing her standing, moving, and clearly alive. It was starting to trigger a significant amount of second-hand embarrassment.

"Who... Who are you? What do you want with me?" she asked, finally getting control of her breathing.

Ada didn't respond right away. She pulled a knife from her combat belt and pricked her finger with the tip. A single drop of blood pooled on the bottom of her ring finger as Ada offered the hand to the albino girl.

"I'm Ada, Ada Wong, and I'm someone you can trust."

The girl looked at Ada, thoroughly unconvinced. She turned her head, her focus narrowing in on Leslie.

"A-alpha..?" She asked, her tone sounded half like a question, half like a request.

Leslie nodded back at her. The single motion seemed to carry a gravitas that was usually reserved for religious ceremonies. The passing of consent from one person to the other. An unspoken, 'yes, you may'

The girl took Ada's hand, pulling the bleeding finger to her lips and gently licking away the tiny speck of blood.

A second later she jerked away, staggering back as if she had just been slapped. Her flowing white hair darkened, changing color so rapidly it looked like someone had spilled a gallon of ink over it. The next to change was her skin, flushing with pigmentation; it changed from unearthly white to a healthy cream color.

The bones in her face shifted as well. She developed almond shaped eyes with brown irises, her lips became fuller, her chin shorter, higher cheekbones and a shorter nose.

Leon looked from the girl to Ada, soon discovering why the girl in the tube now looked so familiar. The two women looked like sisters now. They both had black hair, brown eyes and a similar facial structure.

It seemed completely impossible, but Ada had given the younger woman her DNA. Like a clone that could be made post growth and development.

When her body finished its complete transformation, the clone spoke directly to Ada.

"Do I have a name, Mistress?

Her body language had received an overhaul with her face. Any trace of the scared little girl had been washed away replaced with a cool self confidence that Leon had thought only one woman could fully embody.

"Your name is Xia. Xia Wong." Ada replied, sounding out the name the second time, so the two syllables were clear.

Leon, lacking a comprehensive knowledge of the proper spellings of Chinese names, would incorrectly be writing Xia's name as 'Shya' in his lengthy post-mission report. For the moment, though, he was too concerned with the fact that Xia was asking Ada for a name to give the technical details much thought.

"Ada, you owe me an explanation here. I'm reaching the end of how much fucking around I can tolerate in one day." Leon said, attempting to use his best dad voice.

Leaving Xia for a moment, Ada returned to the console and knelt to the floor. She pulled a metal briefcase from the gap between the bottom of the computer and the floor. She must have stashed it on a previous visit.

Xia came over, seeming not to notice that she was stepping on the broken glass in her bare feet, and looked over Ada's shoulder as she opened the case.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ada replied as she undid the clasp. "This is what Ruvik and Marcello have been working towards."

Inside the case lay a neatly folded dress shirt in Ada's trademark shade of scarlet, a pair of black yoga pants and a pair of sturdy leather boots.

"What? Do-it-yourself clone kits?" Leon asked, dutifully turning away so Xia could get dressed in her new clothing without being watched. Leslie followed Leon's example, covering one side of his face with a half-closed hand.

"Tailor made bio-weapons." Ada corrected. "Unflinchingly loyal, and able to inherit the strengths of the host they're paired with."

Ada passed Xia a sports bra and helped her pull it over her shoulders. Next the red shirt, then underpants, and lastly the yoga pants.

"Oh, speaking of Ruvik." Xia said cheerfully, as she stood on one foot to slide her socks and boots on. "You do have a plan to get us out of here, don't you mistress? Because I really don't want to see the look on his face when he finds out you took me."

"Call me Ada, sweetie. Can you handle a gun?" Ada asked, skillfully sidestepping the question. Under where Xia's clothing has previously been was an assortment of weapons.

"Of course I can, I can do anything you can Mis- um... Ada." Xia corrected herself at the last moment. Her long black hair was still dripping with water, and as she had been getting dressed Xia had been attempting to wring it out to keep her clothing dry.

"You can turn around now Leon. Everyone's fully clothed," Ada passed a belt with twin pistols to Xia, then tossed a shotgun in Leon's direction.

The DSO agent just managed to catch it as he turned. The medium-sized firearm was wrapped tightly in a canvas shoulder holster. Leon undid the straps and popped open the receiver. It was a pump-action shotgun. The preferred type for zombie-killers everywhere because of its 9-10 shot capacity before reload.

The holster had a pouch full of shells, and Leon took a moment to load up his nine shots. Xia did the same with her pistols, locking in two fresh magazines from her new combat belt. The tiny girl looked like she couldn't be much older than 17, but she handled her weapons with effortless skill.

"So this is just another bio-weapon manufacturing plant." Leon said, trying to restart the conversations in hope of getting answers. "Didn't the BSAA give this project the thumbs up, how the hell did they miss this?"

"A simple loophole." Ada shrugged. Taking the last weapon out of the case, her beloved collapsible crossbow. "The organisms that New Eden created weren't dangerous on their own. It depended on the temperament of the human who donated the completing strand of DNA."

"It probably never occurred to them to mix in the blood of a psychopath just for funsies." Xia added with a smile. The grin quickly vanished when Ada fixed her with a scolding look.

Apparently sharing some part of her DNA with Xia had not made a perfect copy. That, or Ada was seriously repressing part of her personality.

Xia changed the focus of her attention to Leslie. The albino boy had been oddly silent this whole time. Leslie knew that he wasn't the only one of his kind in the facility, but he hadn't come face to face with another before.

Xia took a few steps towards him. In response, Leslie backed away until he reached the end of how far he could be from Leon without letting go of his elbow. The DSO agent was double checking his freshly loaded shotgun so he didn't notice the movement.

Leslie didn't want to let go of Leon so he stood his ground. His shoulders tensed as Xia closed in on him. Her eyes were wide open, excitement radiating off her. Leslie knew she didn't mean him any harm, but he didn't want to play right now. They were in danger and she should be acting like it.

Leslie bore his teeth and let out a long warning growl. Xia stopped dead in her tracks, she tilted her head to the side to show her confusion. Leslie looked her in the eyes, repeating his growl, holding the sound for longer this time to make sure his warning sunk in.

Xia, whimpered softly, tilting her head back to show Leslie her bare neck. Leslie's growl softened into a low rumble, then petered out as he accepted her submission. Xia tried approaching again, slower this time. Leslie watched her carefully, but allowed her to walk right up to him.

Xia gently pressed her shoulder against Leslie's. They were about the same height so it was easy for her to lean against him. She pushed a little, and he pushed back, testing their strength against each other. Xia giggled, her enthusiasm rising now she had gotten a reaction out of Leslie. She leaned over and licked the albino's cheek. Leslie huffed at her and pulled away, circling around Leon so he could put the DSO agent between him and Xia.

Leon was staring at both of them, unable to shake the feeling that he was witnessing the bio weapon equivalent of two dogs meeting in a park.

Ada whistled, and Xia returned to her in a flash of movement. The super spy reached out and patted her on the head.

"Borrowing a bit of canine genetic code as a base for the pair bond was my idea." Ada admitted, with a shrug of her shoulders. "I'm beginning to think I'd make a good biologist."

Leon lifted an arm to look at Leslie. The albino had both arms wrapped tightly around his midsection, guarding him in a manner eerily renascent of a puppy with a favored chew toy.

Okay, so maybe that explained a few things.

"So, is that your mission completed now that we have Ruvik's latest science project?" Leon asked, as he slipped the strap of the shotgun holster over his back.

"Standing right here, you know." Xia muttered, but no one paid her any mind.

Ada opened her mouth to respond, but was drowned out as a mechanized whaling filled the air. The lights flickered and went out, replaced with flashing red warning signals. A scratching roar echoed against the inside of the tube inhabited by the long haired monster. Clawed hands smashed against the glass, scraping shallow indents in the blood coated transparent barrier.

"Time to leave." Leon hissed, grabbing Leslie by the wrist. He yanked the albino free of his protective embrace and dragged Leslie towards the tunnel that led out into the arena. Ada and Xia seemed to approve of this plan and weren't far behind.

As they passed the tube with the bloody monster in it, the creature let out another roar. Fists slammed against glass and splintering cracks filled the air. Leon didn't turn around to see what had happened, but he heard the ripple of gunshots as Xia opened fire, running and shooting over her shoulder.

Leon clicked off the safety on his own pistol just as they reached the end of the tunnel. The lights in the area were on, including several high-powered spotlights. Together, they flooded the whole arena with imitation daylight.

On the other end of the battlefield, another crowd of creatures was emerging from the tunnel directly opposite. They looked eerily reminiscent of lickers. But instead of skinless muscle, sinew, and exposed brains, they were covered in matted patches of fur. The body-type seemed more agile; better adapted to running on four legs.

"More test subjects?" Leon yelled to Ada. She had gotten ahead of him, making a beeline for the exit door.

"What can I say, perfection takes mistakes." she shot back. Leading their small group up along the side of the arena, as far away from the licker-wolf things as possible.

Xia was taking up the rear, plugging shot after shot into the monster chasing them. It didn't seem to be slowing it down at all. Leon looked over his shoulder just in time to see the monster emerging into the floodlit arena.

It was huge, twice the size of the woman it might have once been. It had two sets of long and distended arms, bent in the middle, but in a manner completely unlike an elbow. The torso was bare but it was impossible to make out anything about her body under the layers of scar tissue and gore. The most recognizably human parts of her was her long black hair and the back legs that were far too short in comparison to her front arms.

She crawled across the concrete, most of her weight being carried on the front half. Her long claws scraped against the ground as she lurched forward, momentarily blinded by the lights. Xia left off taking pot-shots at her, and focused on catching up with the group.

Then, in a twist of fate that was so commonplace, Leon didn't even have the ability to be surprised by it anymore. A half destroyed car cleaved itself up and into the air from its previous position laying on its side several feet from the door.

Tiny red drops of blood hovered around it like a swarm of angry bees, the incandescent partials closed together and moved as one, tossing the car. 3000 pounds of twisted metal and plastic slammed broadside into the small entrance door. The reinforced plating around the door held firm, it was obviously built especially to keep things inside the arena.

Ada slowed her run, throwing out a hand to catch Xia before she slammed into her back.

"And where exactly did you think you're going?" In a flash of light and smoke, Ruvik appeared, perched on top of the doubly wreaked car. The swarm of blood drops responded to his presence, pinging through the air towards him as if magnetically charged.

Sometime since Leon had last seen him, Ruvik had lost track of his shirt and vest. His fire scars were on full display now, and with them, his complement of genetic mutations. The seemingly sentient blood drops oozed from a gash in his arm, floating freely as if they existed in a gravity-less environment.

"Cào nǐ māde bī!" Xia swore in mandarin under her breath. She tried to edge herself into a position where she was as hidden as possible behind Ada. Leslie looked at her, picking up on the sudden anxiety. Even fresh out of her tube, Xia knew who would be the biggest threat to her continued existence.

The mismatched wolf/licker hybrids seemed to be ignoring the drama taking place near the arena's only exit. They seem more concerned with the sudden appearance of the long haired monster. They crossed the arena with frightening speed and surrounded her, snapping at her arms and hair. They ran around her in circles like a litter of excitable puppies greeting their mother.

"You're one of my researchers aren't you?" Ruvik asked Ada, regarding her as one would a particularly large rat. "I'll have to give Marcello your corpse and have him explain to me how you managed to slip through his screening process."

Ruvik's focus switched from Ada to the girl attempting to hide behind her. His cocksure grin vanished, playful aggression switching gears into cold-blooded rage.

The swarm of blood drops pulled together into a dense cloud and smacked Ada aside like a toddler throwing a toy out of a stroller.

Xia screamed, her cheeks flushing red with fury. She leapt towards Ada but Ruvik's blood drop tendril caught her in midair. Wrapping around her middle and hauling her up to his eye-level. Xia tried to shoot him, but the droplets hovered around her hand and bumped and pushed, making it impossible to aim.

Ruvik stared at the struggling girl, his heart pounding as he recognized her. The long black hair and the red shirt, she almost looked like... but the face was all wrong. Her eyes the wrong color. Her skin the wrong shade.

She was his shell. The shell he had meant to use to bring back Laura. But she had been polluted, spoiled with the DNA of an unworthy cretin. As if losing Leslie hadn't been enough. Now the vessel he had been perfecting for months was damaged beyond repair.

Anger boiled inside Ruvik, the blood drops reacted and began to tighten around Xia. Leon raised his pistol and shot a pattern of bullets into Ruvik's chest, but he hardly seemed to notice. A loud crack was heard as three of Xia's ribs snapped under the pressure.

Ada struggled to her knees and lifted her crossbow, looking down the sights as she aimed and fired. Finely tipped steel cut the air like a lighting strike and hit its target dead on. The blood drops scattered as Ruvik's focus shattered and Xia fell to the concrete.

Ruvik stumbled back, the bottom half of a crossbow bolt protruding from his eye socket. He howled in agony. Ruvik gritted his teeth and took hold of the bolt, wrenching the arrow from his eye. He tossed it to the floor. His shoulders hunched. One hand covering the wounded eye.

The Blood coated spider monster roared, her high pitched scream echoing Ruvik's cry. The momentary distraction completely forgotten about now that her master was in danger. Moving a lot faster than a six legged human had any right to, she charged towards Ada. Black hair parted to reveal a foot long mouth, filled to the brim with pointed teeth.

Xia gasped as her bones snapped back into place. Her rapid cell regeneration kicking in. Unaccustomed to pain, the young genetic experiment found herself frozen in place. Unable to move without causing another wave of agony.

Ada swivelled around, fitting a second bolt into her crossbow from the quiver on her hip. Her hand was steady, her concentration more than match for the situation. Her finger pulled around the trigger and the second bolt struck the shoulder joint on the first set of the spider monster's arms.

The creature stumbled and fell, slamming hard into the concrete. Its own forward momentum dragged it across the rough surface as it tumbled head over foot.

The spider woman was incapacitated for the moment, but the wolf-lickers were picking up the charge. They were hot on the larger monster's heals and kept right on coming, howling and panting as they advanced. One went so far as to use the fallen spider monster as a springboard, running over her and leaping towards Ada, its gaping maw wide open.

Leon moved, unsheathing the shotgun from the holster on his back. He lifted the barrels and fired.

Buckshot tore through fur and flesh. The inertia from hundreds of high velocity pellets won out, and sent the BOW flying sideways.

Ruvik watched all this with his good eye. The bleeding was slowly drying up as the wound healed. He was content to observe for now. Allowing his creations to rip apart these worms for him. They would suffer more if given a fighting chance before he crushed them.

Xia, panting heavily with her freshly re-inflated lungs, pulled herself back upright. Aiming carefully, she fired shot after shot at the licker hybrids.

They were advancing slower now. With two of their number injured, the pack wasn't going to take any more risks. Two of the smaller creatures circled around to press the foursome of humanoids from behind. The rest spread out, forcing the gun wielding humans to pick their targets one at a time.

"Alpha! You can stop them. They'll listen if you make them!" Xia yelled, her eyes flicking over to Leslie to make sure he heard her.

The albino clutched Leon's arm tightly, bracing himself against the painfully loud shots. But the gunfire was only a gentle hum when compared to the ceaseless panting and growling all around him. Every sound had a meaning. Some of them were hungry, some simply wanted to fight, and still, others expressed fear or disagreement.

They were rowdy and loud, but more importantly, their lack of discipline made them weak. Something deep inside Leslie longed to put them in their place. He could take them all on with ease... if he just...

Ada, Xia, Leon, and attached Leslie, gathered together in the center of the pacing licker-hybrids.

Together they were able to keep visual contact, and more importantly, iron sights, on the hostiles. Every time one of the licker-hybrids got close, a volley of gunfire would send it scurrying back again.

But the precarious truce was about to come to an end, because the four armed monster was beginning to stir and get to its feet (arms?). Apparently, she had given up on trying to dislodge Ada's bolt from her shoulder and carry on the fight with only three fully functional limbs.

"So does anyone have a plan they'd like to share?" Leon muttered, looking from Ada to Xia.

"We need to sway the pack to our side. We won't be able damage Laura if they're protecting her." Xia replied.

"Details sweetie, quickly if you would." Ada added, fitting a fresh bolt into her crossbow.

"Go on Alpha, show them whose boss." Xia said. She reached over and tugged on Leslie's arm, ignoring the growl she got in return. Leslie was tense from head to foot, his shoulders hunched up and hands over his ears.

"Why the hell do you keep calling Leslie that?" Leon asked, his frustration over being left out of the loop becoming evident in his voice.

Leslie glared at Xia angrily. Evil thoughts were beginning to slip to the front of his mind. He knew what she wanted him to do. She wanted him to transform again, to rely on the darkness. Adding her voice to the cacophony inside his head.

"Why are you holding back?" Xia blinked at the half curled up Leslie. Her eyebrows furrowing as she searched Leslie's face for an explanation.

With an ear-splitting shriek from Laura the hybrids attacked as one. A wall of teeth, claws and muscle mass descended on them.

Ada got a shot off into the forehead of one and dodged a second. Leon, with studding speed, managed to get three shots off in quick succession. Hobbling the left flank of the charge. Xia took the right side, aiming her pistol shots at limbs and feet to distract and confuse the attacking hybrids.

"Leon, you need to ask the Alpha to help us. Tell him it's alright for him to change!" Xia shouted, ducking out of the way and delivering a forceful kick to the hindquarters of her would-be mauler.

Leon didn't dare take his eyes off the battle so he had to settle with gauging Leslie's emotions from the grip on his forearm.

"Leslie..." Leon began, trailing off as he realized he didn't know what he needed to say. Leslie's hold loosened almost imperceptibly. He seemed to be listening.

"I know you're scared. And I know you don't want to hurt anyone. But there are some things that are worth it. Things like protecting someone you care about." As if to punctuate his point, Ada delivered a roundhouse kick right to the jaw of an oncoming hybrid attempting to attack the pair of them.

"You used your powers to save me. I wouldn't be alive right now if you didn't." Leon added, risking a glance down to smile at Leslie. Blood was pooling on the albino's bottom eyelids, hovering like tears on the edge of being shed.

"I'll watch your back. If anything happens come back to me and I'll protect you." Leon insisted.

Leslie blinked up at him. The howling of the beast inside had faded away. The anger was still there, but it felt different. White hot had become warm. Red fading into orange and pink. Protect. He could protect. Protect Leon.

Leslie saw the clawed hand out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't react fast enough. Leon's arm was wretched from his grip. Laura's claws dug into Leon's chest as she picked him up and slammed him against the concrete.

The shotgun went flying, skidding to a halt at the foot of the car Ruvik was perched on. Ruvik smirked, glancing down at Leslie. Curious to see how he would handle the looming death of his human obsession.

Leslie's lips pulled back revealing his row of pointed fangs.

Sensing vulnerable prey, one of the licker-hybrids swivelled and pounced. Slamming into Leslie and digging in. They tangled together and hit the floor in a mess of limbs fur, fangs, and blood.

Leon lashed out and kicked, pounding his fists into the finger joints of the blood-coated monster's hands in an effort to pry himself free. Laura shifted, putting more weight on Leon's rib cage and freshly injured back. She ground the tiny human into the unforgiving concrete, waiting for pain and restricted air flow to paralyze her victim.

Black spots danced across Leon's vision. He was fairly accustom to the scent of decay and chemicals that tended to hang around bio-weapons, but the stench of putrid blood coming off this monster was mind numbing.

Two clawed fists closed around his forearms, pinning them in place. Leon's steel blue eyes widened as a third hand lifted, claws bared.

A mass of blood and brilliant white slammed into Laura. Large canine jaws closed around her throat. The spider monster screamed and reared back, clawing at the ball of fur that was hanging from her neck. The creature growled and bit down harder, bracing its back legs against Laura's chest and pushing against her.

The two parted, the smaller creature taking a sizable chunk of flesh with it. Laura stumbled back, spluttering and choking, blood gushing from the hole where the front of her neck used to be.

At her feet the white wolf spat out the mouthful. Its hackles raising as it took a few steps back, preparing to strike again.

"Leslie?" Leon whispered, still low on breath. His plaintive question was lost under the growling emanating in waves from the human-sized wolf.

Leon didn't really need an answer, though. He knew it was Leslie under the sleek ivory fur. Even if he hadn't sensed it, anyone could recognize the distinctive trails of blood around Leslie's eyes that had stained the fur red along his thin, angular cheeks.

Leslie braced his hind paws against the floor and tossed his head back, letting out a reverberating howl. The pitch of the ear-piercing sound skyrocketed higher and higher, turning into a barely audible screech.

Xia, collapsed mid kick. The hybrid she was fighting threw itself onto its back, claws in the air in a clear display of surrender. The rest of the monsters, who hadn't already been injured enough to nullify the threat they posed, did likewise. Some lay on their sides, others saw down and rested their heads on the ground. Most bore neck or belly, exposing weak points to show supplication.

Ada winced, feeling a migraine coming on. But pain or not, she wouldn't waste the sudden cease fire. She hustled over to Leon and kneeled beside him.

Above them the glass dome that protected the upper balconies began to rattle. The sound waves from Leslie's howl passed through them at just the right pitch to cause the warped panels to vibrate until, all, at once, they shattered.

The cacophony of billions of tiny shards of glass shattering drowned out even the wail that had caused them to break. Most of the falling glass landed on the balcony, and the bits that didn't landed far away from the fighting.

Leslie's jaws snapped shut, his head lowering. The last pieces of glass tinkled gently in the background as they slid into a resting place.

A hush descended on the battlefield, then all at once, the licker-hybrids picked up the cry. Quietly at first, then, building in volume as more voices added to the chorus. The pack got to their feet and came over to Leslie. Crowding around him as they had done with Laura.

The spider monster made a low spluttering growl. But her vocal cords hadn't healed enough to produce a sound strong enough to win the pack over to her side again.

Kicking off hard with his back legs, Leslie shot forward in a blur of red and white. He lunged at Laura, locking his jaws around her injured shoulder joint.

Leslie's pack was right behind him, one by one they dug their claws and teeth into Laura. She frantically fought to throw them off, but sheer numbers weighed down her arms, leaving her helpless against the onslaught.

Xia came over to Ada, and together they helped pull Leon to his feet. As far as the DSO agent could feel, nothing had been broken, but that could just be the adrenaline keeping him on his feet.

Meanwhile Ruvik's devil-may-care attitude was starting to wane. The discovery of Leslie's second form had been interesting, as well as his ability to usurp subject A1 as leader of the pack, but they were getting away from the true goals of this encounter. Particularly the parts that involved the painful death of the intruders.

Leslie bit down again and again. Taking pieces out of Laura's arm until he hit bone and cartilage. Digging his fangs between the bones he yanked his head back, tearing the humorous bone from the shoulder joint.

He came away with the still twitching arm in his jaws. Following his lead, the pack started digging into joints, ripping pieces off of the spider-like woman.

Ruvik flashed in and out of existence. Appearing behind Leslie. A blood drop tendril wrapped itself around a piece of large mental shrapnel and hurled it at the silver wolf.

The projectile hit Leslie in the shoulder, earning a yelp of pain as he was knocked onto his side. Leon gritted his teeth, fingers twitching for a moment before he remembered he had lost his shotgun. He scanned the ground and located it, sprinting to collect it.

Leslie staggered back onto all four paws and charged, his head down, burning ruby eyes locked on Ruvik's throat. He sprung, teeth bared. Ruvik lifted an arm, a wickedly sharp blade solidified on the outside of the skin.

With a flick of his arm Ruvik knocked Leslie out of the air. The blade cutting deep into the wolf's vulnerable under-belly.

Leslie collapsed to the floor again, bleeding profusely from his chest to his haunch. Ruvik approached the felled beast, a cold laugh spilling from his lips. The blade on his arm extended outwards as more biomass added to it, lengthening the edge to twice the size of Ruvik's arm.

Ruvik struck, skewering Leslie through the chest with it, pinning him to the floor like a squirming insect pinned to a specimen tray. The length of Ruvik weapon ensured he was out of range of Leslie's paws and teeth.

"I thought you would be smarter than this." Ruvik spat, his disgust perfectly palpable. "You fight as if you haven't already lost everything. As if you have a future outside of the next meal and the next kill." Ruvik laughed, loud and hollow. "Once you become a monster. The blood will never wash clean. Perhaps you'll figure that out before you die."

A thunderclap of a gunshot and Ruvik was thrown off of Leslie. Leon pumped the for-end of his shotgun, readying a second attack.

Leslie twisted his upper body. The wounds to his chest, closing at him stood back up. Faster than the eye could follow Leslie threw himself on top of Ruvik, finally getting into the close quarters he needed to deal damage.

Leon was frozen mid-aim, unable to fire without it impacting both of the combatants.

Forced to defend himself, Ruvik grew new mutations. Tiny black spikes erupted from his skin along his other arm and chest, turning Leslie's strength and ferocity against him as every attack was punished in turn.

Ada and Xia joined Leon. But the three of them were still no more useful than spectators. Leon followed the fight as best he could, tensing when Ruvik seemed to be getting the upper hand, releasing when Leslie bit back twice as hard.

"Leslie get away from him!" Leon barked, the hands holding his shotgun beginning to shake.

"This is the alpha's fight." Xia said, shaking her head at him. "There's nothing we can do now."

Leon looked to Ada desperately, but she could only offer a shrug of her shoulders. She kept her crossbow at the ready though, just in case a chance to get a clear shot presented itself.

Leslie, bleeding profusely from the inside of his mouth and all along the shoulders, was shoved to the side by Ruvik. Both of them were injured, but neither had struck the blow that would sway the fight into their favour.

Ruvik pulled up his blade and thrust it under Leslie's snout, against his furry ruff.

"Do you really think you could use the gifts I gave you to defeat me." Ruvik hissed, blood leaking from the corner of his lips.

Leslie stared, his large wolf eyes fixed on Ruvik. The pure hatred in that gaze would have paralyzed a sane man, but to Ruvik it was simply like looking into a mirror.

A sudden barrage of gunfire caught Ruvik along the back. They were no more damaging to him than the bite of a gnat. But they did serve to remind him that killing Leslie now would rob him of the opportunity teach the ungrateful brat what true suffering felt like.

Leslie arched up, snapping at Ruvik's neck. His teeth caught on something metallic tasting that stuck between his fangs.

Ruvik stood up, delivering a vicious kick to Leslie's midsection. The wolf growled through gritted teeth, muscles tensing as if to rise, but the energy required never materialized.

Leon kept firing his pistol, unable to waste the precious seconds required to switch to his shotgun again. Ada and Xia added their shots to the mix, but none of it seemed to register to Ruvik.

He lifted one hand and a blood drop tendril formed in midair. It lashed out towards Leon, wrapping around his throat.

Ada aimed her crossbow shot, trying to hit the same eye she had previously. A rush of floating blood drops knocked her down, tearing her crossbow from her hands.

Ruvik closed his fist, his signal translated to the tendril wrapped around Leon's neck, and it tightened significantly.

The pistol dropped from Leon's hands. His back arching as he scrambled to try and peel off the strangling force.

Ruvik glanced over his shoulder at Leslie, expecting the wolf to attempt to attack him. But instead Leslie was simply standing, panting heavily.

Something gold was dangling from his jaws. Something gold and red.

Leslie dropped the small gilded vial to the concrete and lifted a paw, slamming it down against the small glass container, scraping it against the rough ground.

Leslie may not have been able to speak in his wolf form. But his sentiment was so clear Ruvik could hear the words.

'Take away the one I love. And I'll destroy your chance to have her back.'

Fear was an emotion Ruvik hadn't felt in a very long time. He'd forgotten how it could chill the blood and render one's mind incapable of rational thinking.

The tendril around Leon's throat evaporated, dropping the unprepared DSO agent onto his back on the ground.

All of Ruvik's attention turned back to Leslie. His blood drop tendrils making grabs for the ivory wolf.

Leslie snapped up the vial and chain in his mouth, swinging his head to the side and tossing it like a shot-put. The vial arched through the air, on a straight path for impact with the ground.

A tendril of blood drops moved to catch it, but Xia got there first. The small girl rolled into a somersault to disperse the momentum from her leap to snatch it and rolled right into a standing pose. She lifted her prize in triumph waving it at Ruvik like an owner teasing a pet with a treat.

"Hey Captain cranky pants! You're going to have to try harder if you want your sister juice back" she yelled.

Ruvik flash teleported, appearing right in front of Xia and lashing out with his blade arm. She back-flipped, getting herself neatly out of scythe range. Fast as a whip she took off, running away from Ruvik, dodging the blood constructs that snapped out to grab her.

Ruvik gathered himself to teleport again, but was blindsided when Leslie slammed into him from the side. Leslie latched onto Ruvik's shoulder with his jaws, but failed to break his focus.

The large blood drop hands separated into many smaller ones. Cutting off paths of escape for Xia.

Finally, one tendril managed to catch her by the ankle and haul her up. The jerk caused the vial to slip out of Xia's grip and for a split second it was falling again.

Ruvik teleported, leaving Leslie with a mouthful of crimson sparks.

This time the vial and its sunflower gilding landed squarely in Ruvik's palm. He clutched it to his chest tightly like a child with a security blanket, enclosing it in both of his hands.

Before they vanished, the tendril that had finally caught Xia threw her to the ground, aiming for a pile of sharp scrap metal and broken wooden boxes.

Ruvik stared down at the vial in his hands, ignoring the monumental crash as the thieving wretch who stole it from him was hopefully impaled through the chest.

The need for revenge was strong, but not nearly as strong as the fear that his last hope for seeing Laura again might be taken away from him. His ungrateful creations knew his weakness and were determined to exploit it.

But Ruvik knew himself better than they did. He knew how he would react when he was denied blood. If he wasn't going to have his revenge today, then he would deny it to them as well.

With a flash of sparks, Ruvik vanished and this time he didn't reappear.

Leslie growled angrily, waiting for something to happen. But the only sound in the vast area was the chewing and slurping of the surviving licker-hybrids devouring the corpse of the spider woman.

Xia extricated herself from a pile of splinters, her wounds slowly healing as she took a few shaky steps forward. Leon was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, still winded but otherwise alright. While Ada had just managed to recover her crossbow.

Leslie paced back and forth, still waiting for Ruvik to show himself again. Part of him could sense his creator had vanished, but the thought of Ruvik escaping was more than enough to make his blood boil and drive out any hope for further notions. Hate filled every bit of Leslie's mind, blocking out anything else. The call for death couldn't be stopped, it needed a new target.

Leslie broke into a run, hate filled red eyes locking on fresh prey. He launched himself, claws first, at one of his hybrid pack. Caught mid chewing, the smaller bio weapon was helpless against its stronger alpha.

"Leslie!" Leon yelled, but once again he was ignored. He turned to Xia, who was watching Leslie with a growing sense of horror.

"Alpha, stop! They're on our side! You don't have to hurt them!" Xia screamed, but her words seemed just as useless as Leon's.

Leslie finished with the first, ripping off its head with a twist of his neck, then turned to another. The hybrid moved as if to run, but Leslie was faster.

In moments, the dregs of the pack were torn apart or eviscerated by their would-be leader. Leslie stood over the corpse of the last one, sticky green blood dripping from his jaw. The exercise had done nothing to quiet the pounding in his head and chest. It was still not enough, never enough.

His eyes locked on Xia. That one. He would kill that one next.

Xia began to back away as Leslie paced towards her. Canine lips pulled away from his fangs as he let out a long growl.

"A-alpha..." Xia stuttered. She lifted her gun, aiming it at the oncoming Leslie. "Stop right now! I'm warning you!"

Ada lifted her crossbow as well, but Leon was the one who fired. His bullets arched through the air and scraped Leslie's back.

Furious red eyes turned on him, the near misses good enough to draw Leslie's attention.

"Over here Leslie! Come here." Leon yelled. He glanced over at Ada and gave her a shove to get her as far away from him as possible.

Leslie turned and charged, closing the distance between them in seconds.

The last thing the DSO agent had time to do before impact was throw away his pistol and open his arms.

Leslie hit hard, teeth digging into Leon's upper arm, claws piercing his already torn shirt. Leon's legs gave way and he ended up on the floor for the umpteenth time that night.

The arm not currently in Leslie's mouth tightened around the wolf's back, pressing their bodies together.

Leon's blood filled Leslie's mouth, the familiar taste jerking Leslie's memory. He was in Leon's arms. He needed revenge... revenge for Leon... but he was safe... they were both safe... he was hurting Leon. Why was he hurting Leon? No...

Oh, no.

Leslie pulled back, his whole body going limp. Leon gently ran a hand though Leslie's fur. A moment later, Leon felt the wound on his shoulder close, along with all the other wounds he had collected that night. Strength returned, Leon sat up, resting Leslie in his lap as he did so. The white wolf was panting heavily, his eyes shut tightly.

"You are completely crazy. I don't know why I stick around you." Ada said, cautiously approaching the neutralized Leslie.

Xia approached as well, kneeling on the floor beside Leon and Leslie.

"Why isn't the alpha changing back?" she asked. Carefully placing a hand on Leslie's fluffy head. He opened his eyes, revealing they were back to a crystal blue.

"Is something wrong?" Leon asked, his relief cut short as a feeling of impending doom started to assert itself.

"The Alpha is trying to change back into his human form, but he's... stuck..." Xia explained.

The skin under Leon's hand started to pull together, the fur receding for a moment before it snapped back thick as before. Leslie's panting grew more desperate, and he started to whimper softly under his breath.

"Is there something we can do?" Ada asked, getting straight to the point.

"I can try to heal him, but nothing is actually broken so I don't know if it would help." Xia said. She bit her lips, humming indecisively over the fallen Leslie.

"Is there any harm in trying?" Leon asked, not looking up from Leslie. He gently ran a hand over the wolf's head, trying to help keep him calm.

"No... Well, not unless- No… actually, I'm sure it's fine. If I mess something up the alpha can just fix it again."

Leslie growled, apparently not impressed with Xia's bedside manner. Leon hushed him with a scratch behind the ear and moved aside a bit to allow Xia to sit beside him.

"Just don't let go of the al- I mean, Leslie, okay? I'm getting the feeling that contact with you is all that's keeping him from tearing us apart right now." Xia instructed, before placing both her bare hands on Leslie's side.

She took a deep breath in, then held it. A few moments later, she let out a soft groan under her breath. Leslie joined in with a growl of his own. His bone structure began to shift, the toes on his paws lengthened into furry fingers, his snout became less pronounced and his limbs began to lengthen. The joints moving into a new alignment.

The strain grew with every passing second, Xia began to tremble from her feet to the tips of her hair. And Leslie began to thrash back and forth as his body refused to accept the change.

In the end, even their combined willpower wasn't enough. Xia collapsed backward onto the concrete. She and Leslie hyperventilating as if they had just completed a marathon.

"Fuck…" Leon hissed, unable to think of anything more eloquent to say. He carefully wrapped both arms around Leslie neck, holding loose enough to let the white wolf breath. There was still too much to think about right now for him to process it all, but Leon was keenly aware of the fact that if Leslie hadn't taken on this second form to combat Ruvik, none of this would be happening.

Had Leslie known that if he transformed he might not be able to turn back?

"This… is all my fault… I'm so sorry Leslie." Xia panted, speaking the exact words Leon was thinking. "I didn't know…"

The wolf lifted his shaggy head, fixing his cool blue gaze on the younger experiment. A soft keening sound came from Leslie. A melancholy, but comforting whimper. Reassuring Xia that he didn't blame her.

Xia sobbed, running her fingers distractedly through her long black hair. Then all of a sudden an idea hit her.

"Laura!" she screamed, jumping to her feet. "Leslie, we need to help Laura!"

Leslie bristled and growled irritably, the fur on his back standing up under Leon's rhythmic petting.

"Yes, I know, but if we save her, she'll owe us one. With the three of us, we might just be able to fix this." Xia snapped. She grabbed Leslie's back paws gesturing to Leon to help her lift Leslie.

Together the two of them moved the exhausted wolf over to what was left of Laura. Only her head remained connected to her body and her torso was incomplete in several places. As they approached one of her eyes snapped open. Glaring out from between a part in her blood-soaked hair.

"Xia…" Ada said, drawing out the name like a scolding mother. "I don't suppose you would mind telling me why this is a good idea."

"We won't just be heeling her body. We can do the mind while we're at it." Xia explained as she directed Leon to rest Leslie on the floor, the tip of his muzzle resting on Laura's shoulder. "She's not completely crazy. She just has a little too much Ruvik in her."

Leon grit his teeth hard. He wasn't any more on-board with this plan than Ada was, but even if this whole thing backfired, he couldn't live with himself if he didn't try everything. He ran his fingers through Leslie's thick fur, feeling the heavy panting and straining muscles.

Xia rested her right hand on Laura's other shoulder and glanced over at Ada, holding out her other hand to the super spy.

Ada hesitated for a moment before taking Xia's hand in hers, but when she did, her grip was firm and comforting. Xia took a deep breath and counted back from three.

Because she was biologically immortal, healing Laura was more like restarting a car battery with jump cables than the slow and concentrated mending required to heel a human. The hard part was not letting Laura remake herself like she had been before.

All three of them had been created in an attempt to bring Laura back, between them there had to be enough of her DNA to bring out her humanity again. Together Ruvik's failures could do what their creator had failed to accomplish.

Laura pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her torso was still coated in blood, but on her new arms and legs, her pale skin shone through. Laura raised a hand to her face, smearing her forehead with blood from the puddle she was kneeling in.

She pulled the hand away with a jerk. Staring down at it, then around at her surroundings and the four people sitting in a semi-circle on the floor around her.

"Where... am I?" she asked, crossing her human length arms over her bare chest self-consciously.

"Give it a moment and it will come back to you." Xia snapped. "Right now, you're helping me fix Leslie."

Both girls turned their attention to the struggling wolf. Leslie lay twitching and panting through his gritted teeth.

"Did Ruben do this?" Laura asked, resting one blood coated hand on Leslie's head.

"Poor Leslie…"Laura sighed. A thought crossed Laura's mind and she glanced around herself, suddenly anxious. "But if Ruben is… is there anyone to watch out for him? Leslie can't be alone. Perhaps it would be kinder to-"

"Leslie won't be alone. He's with me." Leon interrupted her, the words flowing out of his mouth without second thoughts. "Whatever happens after this, we're partners, and partners always watch each other's backs."

Leslie lifted his head, looking up at Leon with wide puppy eyes. Ada glanced away trying her best not to gag at the cheesiness. She adored Leon but sometimes the worst things came out of his mouth.

"Leslie isn't bonded to Ruvik anymore." Xia clarified. Laura gave her a questioning look, but didn't argue. She simply nodded and placed her hands back on Leslie.

The three oddly matched siblings closed their eyes. From the outside, it simply looked like they were resting. Or possibly meditating. At least until Leslie's body began to shift.

Leon winced in sympathetic pain as the vastly different skeletal structures swapped places, bones moving under the skin as Leslie's fur receded and vanished. His clothing had been a casualty of his changing forms leaving Leslie bare and cold without his fur.

The hand what had been resting on the scruff of an ivory wolf was now holding Leslie's shoulder. Leon bit his tongue, waiting until he was sure both Xia and Laura were finished before scooping the limp body of the younger man into his arms.

Leon's eyes stung with tears of relief, the feeling washing over him and taking away what was left of his energy. Leslie was so exhausted that as soon as Leon's arms closed around him he fell unconscious.

Laura stood, and without another word she changed. Copying the transformation Leslie had just undergone but in reverse. The blood coating her changed into dark red fur, her long black hair becoming dark markings that ran along her back.

With a massive running leap Laura landed on the glass covered balcony, then from there she vanished into the facility. Presumably making her way to the surface beyond.

A quiet moment passed between the foursome sitting among the carnage. Ada pulled a translucent smartphone from her pocket, checking the time.

"12:15. Looks like it's time for us to be going." She tucked the device back in her pocket and gestured for Xia to follow her.

Leon contemplated asking her to wait, but he knew from experience that it would be less than pointless.

"Ada, can I borrow your knife?" Xia asked, taking long steps to catch up with the older woman.

Ada handed the serrated blade to Xia. Pausing to watch as Xia gathered her thigh length hair in one hand and severed the lengths around the shoulder line. The resulting haircut was extremely rough and uneven, but Xia didn't mind much beyond the fact the massive weight was finally gone.

Ada loosened her grappling hook from her hip and wrapped one arm around Xia's midsection. The hook caught on a steel girder on the ceiling and together the two of them alighted on the balcony through the broken windows.

Not for the first time, Leon resolved to get himself a grappling hook of his own.

* * *

 

Hunnigan knew from the chatter on the coms that Leon had been found and was still alive and in one piece, but she still breathed a sigh a relief when she finally saw him emerge from the front doors of new Eden labs.

His clothing was torn almost to the point of falling off and he was covered in bloodstains, but despite all that, he seemed to be in perfect health. The culprit behind Leon's numerous miraculous healings was slumped over the DSO agent's shoulders, snoozing as he rode on Leon's back. An oversized lab coat was draped over Leslie's shoulders and fastened tightly at the front.

The DSO was just beginning the laborious process of arresting the bulk of new Eden's staff under 'conspiracy to commit bio-terrorism' charges. The process would take until daybreak, likely longer. So in the meantime, Hunnigan had secured Leon and Leslie passage back to Washington.

Letting Leon take Leslie with him was against practically every rule in the DSO handbook for dealing with possible bio-weapons, but given all that had happened over the last few days and Leon's extensive service record, an agreement to quietly ignore regulations had been reached.

Leslie would be under Leon's protection until both were rested enough to handle the extensive debriefing a mess like this was going to require.

Hunnigan led Leon over to one of the DSO jeeps and waited as he rested the sleeping Leslie in the passenger seat and did up the seatbelt. Leslie stirred, checking his surroundings until he found Leon leaning over him. He sat up, pressing a soft kiss to Leon's lips before falling back down into his seat.

Hunnigan, who had been waiting for a moment to speak with Leon, blinked at the two of them, still processing what she had just seen.

Leon looked over his shoulder at her and gave her a shrug and a little wave. Before climbing into the driver's seat and starting the engine.


End file.
